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AN ATTEMPT TO EXPLAIN 




THE NATURE 



OP 



ELECTEICITY, 



AND 



ITS INTENTION 



IN THE ECONOMY OE THE UNIVEKSE. 



BY ROBERT SERRELL WOOD. 




i 

PHILADELPHIA, 

Printed by Charles F. Town, No, 9 South Third Street, 

184*. 




The Author regrets that the time allowed him for 
preparing his Essay before the meeting of the National 
Institute at Washington has been so limited that he 
was barely able to throw it into a connected shape 
from scattered notes and desultory observations. He 
trusts however that if any merit is due to his labours 
it will consist in the originality of his views and the 
plausibility of his arguments to sustain those views. 
With these few prefatory remarks he respectfully pre- 
sents the Pamphlet to the Members of the National 
Institute for their acceptance. 

Philadelphia, March 3rd, 1844. 



t 



AN ATTEMPT TO EXPLAIN 



THE NATURE 



OF 



ELECTRICITY, 



AND 



ITS INTENTION 



IN THE ECONOMY OE THE UNIVEESE. 




BY ROBERT SERRELL -WOOD. 



PHILADELPHIA. 
Printed by Charles F. Town, No, 9 South Third Street. 

1844. 



.4 






N 



^ 



CONTENTS. 



Only two forces in Nature, due to Caloric and Electricity, — they 
are antagonists, the latter causing in matter a disposition to cohere, 
the former producing repulsion among its particles. Every atom 
contains both of these imponderables in a free and latent condition 
— to these agents substances are indebted for their bulk and weight. 
On the manifestation of dynamic changes in molecules or masses the 
Sciences of Chemistry and Natural Philosophy are based. Electricity 
maintains its own equilibrium by the following modes of distribution, 
viz: by gravitation of matter, its decomposition and re-composition; by 
conduction, convection, radiation, and the discharge. The impon- 
derables originate all movements in every department of Nature. Order 
Heaven's first law. Vegetables and animals exist in obedience to laws 
imposed upon matter by the Creator. As like has an attraction for its 
like, so with respect to'some bodies, like begets its like — greater amount 
of imponderables in organic than in inorganic bodies — their pro- 
perties correspond and rise in importance. Growth of plants and 
animals attributed to the power of organized matter to attract similar 
materials, to alter and appropriate them. Electricity the cause of 
this attraction — is increased by the change of form which living 
matter undergoes in the system. Animal heat the result of the 
deposition of tissues or the change of blood from the venous to the 
arterial consistence; animal innervation the result of the disintegration 
of tissues or the change of blood from the arterial to the venous 
character. The imponderables contribute to health and disease in 
the animate part of Creation as they cause harmony and derange- 
ments in the inanimate. 



WHAT IS ELECTRICITY? 



PART FIRST. 

Before opening this discussion let me prepare my 
reader for the novelty of my views by bringing to his 
recollection a subject of a kindred nature which has 
undergone the ordeal of criticism usually allotted to 
propositions which startle our prejudices. The phe- 
nomena of mind had been long studied before the time 
of Gall and Spurzheim; certain facts connected with 
mental operations had been received as positive truths, 
and yet no system had been devised in accordance 
with Nature until the science of Phrenology was dis- 
closed with its simple demonstrations and undeniable 
evidence. Such is the predicament in which I find 
Electricity. Facts abound without number, but no 
system, no theory to connect them together, and in- 
dicate their intention in the economy of the Universe. 
If the now well-known phenomena of Electricity had 
been elicited during the prosecution of experiments 
instituted to prove my proposed theory instead of 
being quoted in its support at this late period, how 
different would be the result on public opinion. Elec- 
tricity has been associated so long with other indefi- 
nite properties of matter or regarded as a material 
but imponderable fluid, that it will require an unusual 



6 

amount of evidence to overcome the force of educa- 
tion and habit; and yet, if my senses do not strangely 
mislead me, we have been overlooking an explanation 
of its office from very proximity, while straining our 
eyes to discover it afar off and clothed in profound 
mystery. 

I at once proceed to assume certain principles, the 
value of which will become more evident in the course 
of my argument. It is necessary to take this step in 
limine, unless I should enter upon a dry and elaborate 
detail of the reasons which have prompted me to 
' adopt them. 

I shall endeavour to show that there are two primi- 
tive forces in Nature, due to Caloric and Electricity; 
all others being mere modifications or concomitants 
of their action — these imponderables are antagonist 
agents, and preserve the equilibrium of the Universe, 
the former giving to mattar a property of elasticity 
or a centrifugal direction, the latter of gravitation or 
a centripetal tendency — in other words, Caloric is the 
cause of positive expansion and relative levity; Elec- 
tricity of positive condensation and relative weight. 

Every atom of simple or compound ponderable mat- 
ter contains a determinate quantity of these fluids, by 
which its identity is maintained and most important 
qualities defined. This amount is constitutional and 
inalienable, whereas that which is subsequently at- 
tached or combined with it is only essential for its 
particular form or relation to other atoms, and may 
be assumed or given up according to circumstances. 
Electricity then exists in two states, latent and 
free, thus resembling Caloric : it is not however really 



liberated from matter, but is in such a condition as to 
be appreciable by our senses. When combined with 
Caloric it constitutes Light, and in this connection 
alone may become free. 

The distance of one planet from another, or of a 
planet from the sun, or of one star from another star, 
is regulated not by the amount of matter, but of the 
imponderables aforesaid united with the masses. 
Their motions are attributable to actual transfers of 
the imponderables from one orb to another, thereby 
causing local derangements or an excess of a force 
in some section. 

The disposition of Caloric and Electricity resident 
within our own sphere may have varied at different 
epochs of the Earth's history: we may suppose them 
to have been once diffused equably throughout its en- 
tire extent; and under these circumstances matter 
may have been in a semi-fluid condition. At that pe- 
riod, a square inch taken from the most peripheral 
strata would have contained as much homogeneous 
matter and the same proportion of the imponderables 
as one taken from the innermost. This state of things 
is now probably limited to that part of our globe 
which lies beneath what is called its crust. 

The changes alluded to have arisen not merely from 
spontaneous causes possibly originating within the 
Earth itself, but from the same which operates on its 
grand movements, namely, the rays of Solar light. 
On separating from the Sun, a more exalted relation 
of atoms was substituted for the homogeneous cha- 
racter of its most superficial strata, and combustion 
ensued as a consequence of this arrangement. During 



8 

the transition the mass may have emitted a portion 
of its free imponderables in the shape of Light to dis- 
tant worlds, as the Sun is now doing in order to recch 
its destined equilibrium of internal forces. The mo- 
tion of the Moon is regulated by the direct rays of 
the Sun, also by those reflected from the Earth, just as 
the Earth is sensibly affected by rays from the Moon 
in a less degree. 

The dynamic nature of atoms being different, al- 
though they might have exhibited a promiscuous in- 
tercourse under particular exigencies of time and 
place, they w r ere ready, as I have before remarked, to 
accommodate themselves to a change of circumstances; 
those for instance which contained more constitu- 
tional Caloric than Electricity would be inclined to 
separate from the rest and from each other, while 
those which contained more Electricity than Caloric 
would take a contrary direction and keep together as 
close as possible. For this purpose the former must 
have surrendered to the latter a portion of their com- 
bined Electricity, and the latter a portion of their 
combined or latent Caloric to the former: so that no 
sudden violence is contemplated by this hypothesis, 
but a gradual and mutual compromise whereby have 
arisen the conditions necessary for the more compli- 
cated phenomena of Life. 

The present state of our Earth and its relations to 
the Sun require that although atoms have changed 
places, the equilibrium of forces is not lost; that the- 
oretically speaking, the free imponderables are still 
equably diffused throughout the sphere, whereas the 
latent imponderables vary with the particular form and 



stratum of matter considered. I have said theoreti- 
cally speaking, because in reality the variations of 
Electricity are as unceasing as those of Caloric, and 
to both must be attributed all the movements with 
which we are acquainted, whether animate or inani- 
mate. 

Matter in the abstract is inert, its leading proper- 
ties essentially depending upon the imponderables. 
The inertia so called of an atom or congeries of 
atoms represents their more constant and quiescent 
attitude with regard to other atoms, as regulated by 
their respective amounts of the imponderables. Any 
addition or substraction might produce a change of 
that relation and consequent movement ; not necessa- 
rily however, as may be thus shown. The Earth is 
attracted towards the Sun and repelled from it by its 
own inherent imponderable forces, and Solar light 
being composed of both forces adds to the amount, 
but in an equal ratio; consequently, no change of dis- 
tance results. If the rays brought more Electricity 
than Caloric, the attraction would be in proportion, 
terrestrial weight would be temporarily augmented, 
and terrestrial inertia permanently altered : if Caloric 
prevailed, its repulsive agency would engender compa- 
rative levity, and the Earth would recede further from 
the Sun. The specific weight of a particular section 
of our planet, as contrasted with another section, 
causes it to move upon its own axis. With us, the 
inertia of bodies expresses a fact, viz: that the equili- 
brium of forces being once established, they would 
remain so, but for some disturbing cause. The only 
conceivable case in which a perfect equilibrium could 



10 

ever have existed was at the moment when the Earth 
first parted from its parent, the Sun, and presented a 
homogeneous mass of matter throughout Its present 
condition or equipoise of ponderable and impondera- 
ble elements is due to derangements which may be 
referred partly, if not principally, to their external re- 
lations. Were these removed or superseded, the 
Earth would probably return from its quasi-artificial 
to its primitive but not chaotic state of Nature, as it 
originally obtained. This is figurative language but 
serves to convey a distinction, to which I attach some 
importance, between the more natural and the acquired 
dynamic constitution of the Earth, whether considered 
as a whole or in reference to its parts. It would be 
more correct to define weight as an impulse both elec- 
trical and thermal, appreciable by our senses; since it 
is as easy to prove the upward as the downward ope- 
ration of electrical forces, without interfering with the 
general law upon the subject. Caloric may likewise 
operate in an apparently centripetal direction without 
really affecting its rule of action. 

The above exposition of forces will, I hope, save 
me from the imputation of holding the Phlogiston 
Theory — mine is essentially different in every particu- 
lar; since I acknowledge that the addition of matter 
however light to another portion of matter necessa- 
rily increases not only the amount of materials but 
also the absolute amount of Electiicity, or of weight 
in the abstract. It however mav render the mass 
really and specifically lighter by increasing the rela- 
tive amount of Caloric, which more than counterba- 
lance* the addition of Electricity by swelling the vo- 



11 

lume. Some will contend that all particles are of 
equal weight, and that it is their number which ren- 
ders one mass heavier than another of equal volume; 
but it appears to me that if they differ in weight, it is 
because the heavier contains more Electricity and less 
Caloric than the other; or, at least, that the cause is 
owing to the relative proportions of the imponderables. 
It is self-evident that matter by some means retains 
consistency in opposition to a force which tends con- 
stantly to separate and disperse it. Now, a positive 
agent has been discovered capable of explaining re- 
pulsion, but none has been clearly assigned as the spe- 
cific cause of attraction. What is the office of Elec- 
tricity? Can it Le regarded as matter, when it pos- 
sesses not a single attribute in common with it ? Phi- 
losophers will say that it obeys some of the same laws, 
but I propose to show that these very laws merely 
prove the presence of the agent, and that the attrac- 
tion of aggregation and cohesion, chemical attraction, 
magnetic and electrical attraction, gravitation, &c, 
may be explained by its interposition. The ad- 
measu ement of matter was once almost the exclusive 
occupation of the Natural Philosopher; at the present 
day, the knowledge of weight is the grand object of 
the Chemist. To Gay Lussac belongs the merit of 
pointing out a new relation of atoms; his theory? how- 
ever merely con emplates the fact of their combining 
in definite volumes, as well as definite weights. We 
may make allowance, it is true, for pressure; we may 
estimate the resultant volume of combining gases or 
vapour, but how far from complete our analysis of the 
phenomena presented, if latent Electricity is concern- 



12 

ed as well as Caloric in determining the form and 
specific gravity of matter. The ascertainment of bulk 
and weight are familiarly associated in scholastic ex- 
ercises; but in the scientific enunciation of principles 
which should guide us, how little is it suspected that 
possibly Caloric and Electricity, which are as fami- 
liarly associated in our studies, may be the actual 
causes of relative bulk and weight. The balance or 
volumescope may afford us a kind of evidence that 
cannot be disputed; they settle many doubtful points, 
but as regards the ultimate constitution of matter, its 
dynamic qualities, its action and reaction, we obtain 
nothing definite. The Chemist may separate minerals 
into their component elements, and he may combine 
them again; but to do evn this he must possess cer- 
tain conditions of the barometer and thermometer: in 
other words, Caloric and Electricity are i equisite in 
such proportions as will facilitate the proposed meta- 
morphoses. Can he find such conditions of the im- 
ponderables for the synthesis of organic compounds? 
Let us suppose that each atom of matter is com- 
posed of a specific radical, with properties modified 
by the presence of Caloric and Electricity, which rom 
their opposite qualities may hold different positions; 
Caloric residing, as it were, on one terminus of a sphe- 
roid molecule, and Electricity on the other. A con- 
geries of atoms in which Caloric predominates over 
Electricity would by their readiness to separate pos- 
sess a larger capacity for free Caloric than for Elec- 
tricity, and vice versa the argument holds good with 
those in which Electricity prevails over its rival. It 
is however so ordained, that by mutual concessions 



13 

such atoms although very discordant may harmonize 
together, and on these changes the sciences of Che- 
mistry and Mechanical Philosophy are based. Their 
original constitution gives them a tendency to return 
to their more congenial form, but their actual capacity 
for both, and capability of combinations with each 
other, enable them to hold communion together. 

Electricity may be studied with reference to the 
modes in which it distributes itself or finds its equili- 
brium, viz: by gravitation of matter, its decomposi- 
tion and recompositicn; by conduction, convection, 
radiation, and the discharge. By the term gravitation 
we may understand the phenomenon of matter ap- 
proaching matter by a force proportionate to their re- 
spective shares of Electricity. The heaviest bodies 
are those in which Electricity abounds in the greatest 
degree, so that the metals are most recommended for 
obtaining quantity. The Earth gravitates towards 
the Sun by reason of this agent, and its rotation may 
be thus explained. The equable distribution of the 
free imponderables on the presenting surface is de- 
ranged by the torrents of Light emanating from the 
Sun; the polar inclinations and declinations being 
amenable to the same influence. The peripheral strata 
possessing a larger capacity for the calorific portion 
of the rays than those more remote, the balance is 
lost; and whilst repulsion is produced by the Caloric 
accumulated on the presenting hemisphere, both the 
diurnal and semi-annual changes are enforced by the 
relative excess of Electricity on the distal hemisphere, 
which therefore is attracted by, and gravitates to- 
wards, the Sun's orb. The attraction exerted between 



14 

distant worlds is simple and absolute, for the inter- 
vening space allows the imponderables full scope for 
the exercise of their functions; but when this force is 
brought to bear upon particles or masses not regarded 
in space, but as forming a part of a connected system 
of contiguous molecules, there arises a necessity of 
submitting to counteraction from the particles or 
masses within a certain range — hence we find that 
other laws must be studied, to explain other processes 
of electrical equilibrium. One of the most interesting 
is the mode in which excess of matter dissolved or 
suspended in air during its expansion in summer is 
forced to find its level when the cause of its elevation 
no longer operates to the same extent, and conse- 
quently there is an error loci to be remedied. While 
the masses are precipitating and collecting mid-air, 
they are enabled to detain much of the electrical rays 
which would otherwise reach the ground and be lost 
in its wide extent: they are surcharged with a de- 
scending force, and whether cloud or meteor, make a 
violent effort to seek a refuge from their now unnatu- 
ral height. At a certain distance however from the 
surface they are stopped perhaps in their career, 
either by the compressed air below them, or by the 
attenuated gases which are confined and expanded in 
their midst by the latent Caloric evolved. The sud- 
den shock causes the Electricity to come to a focus 
and to be discharged, the cloud is dissipated either in 
part or whole with explosion, and it descends in the 
form of rain, which aids in conducting the electric 
fluid to the ground. Here is an instance in which the 
gravitation of matter is aided by positive additions of 



15 

free Electricity; in which Electricity itself maintains 
its own equilibrium when e situ either from accident 
or design, as in the usual experiments of the labora- 
tory. The Earth's crust is ever willing to receive it 
into its bosom, being equally ready to give up free 
Caloric. The atmosphere presents reversed pheno- 
mena, so that while we must look to the solid crust 
for the most obvious effects of internal heat, we re- 
cognize electrical disorders most prevalent in the air. 
The Ocean seems to be neutral; in it both play their 
part with less chance for exhibitions of a marked 
character. And why is this ? Because the air is a 
bad conductor of Electricity and the Earth's crust of 
Caloric, whereas the Ocean may receive considerable 
additions or subtractions without very manifest dis- 
turbance : such is the singular dynamic constitution of 
liquids and water in particular. The rotation of the 
Earth on its axis would be attended with accelerations 
and retardations but for this power of the Ocean to 
accommodate itself to the difference of absorption and 
conduction of Light between solids and liquids. 

All substances in changing their form give out or 
receive one or other of the two imponderables men- 
tioned — thus, when iron is heated, it is continually 
absorbing free Caloric, until the point is attained at 
which the free Electricity present is unable to resist 
the expanding force of the Caloric, and at this con- 
juncture a definite portion of Caloric combines with 
the molecules which now become liquid. I use the 
term definite in a restricted sense, for the amount de- 
pends upon varying circumstances, and the case there- 
fore somewhat differs from the definite chemical com- 



16 

binations of Authors; but the relation between the 
one given out and the other absorbed is constantly 
maintained and fixed by definite laws. Again: were 
it possible to aerify the metal the same thing would 
occur. When vapour escapes from the steam engine, 
the boiler if isolated becomes charged: this arises 
probably from the sudden change of form which the 
vapour sustains, like the materials emitted from active 
volcanoes, which develope Electricity in great abun- 
dance. A salt dissolved in water may rob the sol- 
vent of a portion of its Caloric, but it at the same 
time parts with some of its own Electricity to balance 
accounts. The intention of all such changes, whether 
chemical or mechanical, is to produce as easily as 
possible a dynamic equilibrium, which is the main ob- 
ject of creation, and from which there is not a single 
departure. If heterogeneous materials are brought 
into juxtaposition some kind of arrangement must be 
made between them: it may be slow and impercepti- 
ble, or rapid and violent; but action and reaction su- 
pervene, as effects of a universal cause. The electric 
fluid may be conducted like Caloric from one atom 
or congeries of atoms to another, or it may be con- 
veyed by the same to a resting place, as may best suit 
the occasion. I should here observe that, for conve- 
nience, I shall use the term temperament to express 
for Electricity what temperature does for Caloric, viz: 
the imponderable in a free state. If, then, two dif- 
ferent metals of the same temperament and tempera- 
ture — in other words, at the same barometrical and 
thermometrical point — be simultaneously exposed to 
a change of circumstances not having the same ca- 



17 

pacity for the imponderables and being in contact 
they are differently affected; so that if they be heated 
or cooled or moved from one medium into another, 
their relation to each other and the medium will be 
altered. Thermo-electric experiments prove that free 
Caloric is capable of disturbing Electricity as free 
Electricity developes Caloric in the galvanic appara- 
tus. I would direct especial attention to the solidifi- 
cation of a drop of water, if it be placed on the junc- 
tion of two differently conducting metals and exposed 
to the voltaic current in a certain direction: on chang- 
ing the poles, its ebullition ensues. This phenomenon 
may arise from a difference of rapidity in the electri- 
cal current causing a difference of temperature, since 
analogous effects are derived from coils and twists, 
not to mention inequalities and interruptions in the 
connecting wire of a voltaic series, which necessarily 
impede or expedite the current at certain intervals of 
the circuit ; but it may happen that in this instance 
the Electricity, set in motion by Caloric, combines 
with the drop. The Glacial Theory of Professor 
Agassiz is not weakened, to say the least, by admit- 
ting the power of Electricity to solidify by its pre- 
sence, as of Caloric to do the same by its absence. 
Let a plate of copper and another of zinc be im- 
mersed in acidulated water; the zinc possessing a less 
capacity for Electricity than copper parts with a por- 
tion of its free Electricity, which is instantaneously 
conducted from one to the other, thus enabling the 
copper to resist more Successfully oxydizement, while 
the zinc is left less protected than before. When the 

fluid is in great abundance, its passage is indicated by 
3 



18 

a condensation of the molecules constituting the con- 
ducting medium with the extrication of Caloric to 
such an extent as to melt or burn the wire as a se- 
condary result. The particles of the zinc surface, 
being separated by a loss of Electricity as if by the 
addition of positive Caloric, are enabled to unite with 
the oxygen of the water; they become more nearly 
allied in dynamic constitution to oxvgen, under the 
circumstances, than is oxygen to hydrogen. I am far 
from meaning to say that the nearer substances ap- 
proximate in their imponderable relations the greater 
energy is evinced in their reactions, but that cceteris 
paribus they will harmonize better together ; less che- 
mical violence is necessary for their combination, and 
less liability exists of explosion or divellent affinities. 
The peculiarity of decomposition in the voltaic appa- 
ratus consists in the happy mode of turning the free 
Electricity to account, instead of allowing it to pass 
away unheeded as in ordinary cases of chemical 
union. The copper acts as a catalytic agent, which, 
by its presence, influences the result. When cases of 
double elective affinity occur and the excitement of 
all the poles is neutralized, the only effect worthy of 
mention is, that equivalent products are obtained in 
each cell and a more natural relation substituted be- 
tween the conflicting materials. In these cases quan- 
tity of Electricity is obtained, in others of a mecha- 
nical nature the fluid is notable for its quality or in- 
tensity. How can we account for the influence of 
some fluxes but by supposing that electrical conduc- 
tion is no less important than that of Caloric in che- 
mical processes which are allied, I can discover no 



19 

difference between the Caloric imparted by conduction 
to contiguous particles of tallow, which are decom- 
posed and volatilized during the combustion of a can- 
dle, and the gradual developement and conduction of 
Electricity from particle to particle during fermenta- 
tion or digestion. Liebig ascribes the phenomenon 
to motion produced by the ferment on matter which 
admits a similar metamorphosis of atoms, and the ex- 
planation is in keeping with the modern doctrine that 
some bodies are easily converted from one form to 
another by a mysterious change of polarization ; but 
it appears to me that the loss or gain of the electric 
fluid will suffice for this and other chemical pheno- 
mena of the same kind. 

When heterogenous materials are subjected to fric- 
tion in bad conducting media they receive or give up 
a portion of their free Electricity according to their 
respective capacities. This is an expedient on the 
part of Nature to counteract sudden violence, to ar- 
rest its progress, and lastly, to attain relief. If a 
metal be rubbed in the open air or in vacuo, it de- 
pends upon the electrical nature of the rubber whether 
it obtain a surcharge or deficiency of the fluid. Un- 
der ordinary circumstances the equilibrium would be 
instantaneously restored; but let us suppose that the 
metal remain positively excited, the air in its neigh- 
bourhood is induced negatively in order to rob it gra- 
dually of the excess: let the plate of metal be now 
approximated to that body which is more notably de- 
ficient by reason of previous attrition, and if the 
charge be sufficiently powerful and the distance not 
too great the fluid concentrates at some point, and 



20 

by its accumulation constringes the intervening aerial 
particles so as to form a continuous line for its passage 
to the negative surface. The forcible condensation 
of those particles causes the spark, which is different 
for different media. When instead of air glass is 
the electric employed, the fluid will sometimes select 
a convenient spot on which to exert its energies and 
procure a passage from one surface to the other by 
constringing a certain number of molecules, which 
being elastic subsequently recoil and are dissipated 
like vapour. Let it be observed that I use the terms 
positive and positively induced differently; the former 
denoting simply a redundancy of the electric fluid, 
which must find its equilibrium somewhere sooner or 
later in conformity with laws which cannot be con- 
troverted : but the latter is restricted to media of a 
certain kind, in which a peculiar method of relief is 
in request, such as I have before adverted to. If I 
might be allowed to speculate upon the actual process, 
I should hesitate between two probable modes. There 
may be a common apex to two pyramidal cones, in- 
duced in an electric; for instance, in the case of a 
cloud, the presenting surface is subtended by the base 
of a reversed aerial pyramid negatively induced, the 
apex of which either reaches or is not far distant 
from the apex of another aerial pyramid positively 
induced, and resting on the ground which forms the 
base of a reversed pyramidal space under ground ne- 
gatively induced. This type admits of variation and 
accounts for diverse appearances which lightning exhi- 
bits when instead of one several spaces and surfaces 
are concerned; so that one apparent discharge may 



21 

be resolved into as many as the case requires. The 
other mode I would suggest is the rotatory movement 
of pai tides, so that in the cloud itself a tendency of 
the kind exists, which is sympathetically felt by the 
air between it and the ground. The direction of the 
intervening particles being centripetal, at length a line 
is formed sufficiently dense to conduct the fluid from 
one surface to the other. In the case of a charged 
pane of glass, it is the difficulty of forming the pyra- 
midal figure or rotatory movement of particles which 
retains the fluid so tenaciously on its surface. 

I will here introduce for consideration some phe- 
nomena which fortify the position I have assumed as 
to the real nature of Electricity. During the forma- 
tion of a thunder-cloud, when the crisis is near at 
hand, there is a stillness and suffocating dryness of 
the air, and at this conjuncture drops of water are 
deposited very freely on the leaves of plants which 
are negatively charged, and we may suppose a similar 
condensation to occur in the direction of the positive 
cloud. It may be said that the rarefaction of the air 
renders it unable to hold up so much vapour, and that 
this is really another expression of dew. This ad- 
mission is all I require at present, for the accumula- 
tion of such facts in connection with a deranged state 
of the electrical fluid will be collateral evidence in 
my favour. I will venture further, and ask whether 
the induction set up in this and other instances is not 
an abortive or rather a vain attempt at chemical 
combination; whether there is not sometimes a minor 
degree of attraction exerted which falls short of its 
proposed object: the extraordinary power which po- 



22 

rous substances evince for fluids would indicate a 
kind of electrical induction or condensation akin to 
it. Mr. Cross, by passing a small constant stream of 
Electricity through water, detached the calcareous 
and silicious particles dissolved in it, and set in mo- 
tion the vital machinery of some infusorial animal- 
cules. Instances without number might be adduced 
in which the condensing power of Electricity is appa- 
rent; such as the formation of crystals at the negative 
pole of the galvanic circuit; and the solidification of 
Glauber's salts on the admission of common air into 
a bottle in which the salt has been previously dis- 
solved by water heated and allowed to cool. Dr. 
Ure, I believe, attributes this last phenomenon to Elec- 
tricity, without however attaching any definite idea 
to the function of that fluid as the antagonist of Ca- 
loric. 

Radiation is the last mode of distribution and is of 
two kinds, simple and compound. Pure electrical ra- 
diation takes place when there isan excess of the fluid 
which escapes diffusively by cohstringing the medium 
of its passage. Whether the concomitant light is pro- 
duced by the condensation of gases or of solids the phe- 
nomenon is identical; but their capacity for Caloric being 
different, metals will give out Caloric whereas gases 
instantly reabsorb it, so that in the so-called vacua no 
indications of Caloric appear. Glass or ice are better 
electrics than w T ater or dense air, these again than 
thin vapour or rarefied gases for obvious reasons. 
There is certainly more Caloric in rarefied air than 
in air at the usual atmospheric tension, but, notwith- 
standing, the Caloric offers less resistance to electrical 



23 

condensation in the one than in the other, because 
there is a negative condition of Electricity in the 
former which does not exist in the latter. A perfect 
vacuum I believe would lie a perfect nonconductor, 
whereas compound radiation in which Electricity is 
combined with Caloric passes readily through a va- 
cuum. Through some media Light passes without 
much change except in intensity, by others it is almost 
immediately reflected or absorbed with total loss of 
characteristic qualities. Its reflection depends upon the 
condition of the surface ; its refraction or decomposi- 
tion upon the physical and dynamical state of the sur- 
face and mass. Red rays give up most readily their 
Caloric and are least refrangible, the violet yield their 
Electricity and are most bent from the perpendicular : 
thus further demonstrating the tendency of one set to 
converge, of another to diverge according to their 
dynamic constitution. Light is modified by substances 
identical in ponderable materials but dynamical dis- 
similar. The appearance of carbon is proverbially 
varied, and that of pure glass is also remarkable for 
the same diversity and other physical properties. The 
most intense artificial light is produced on lime by the 
oxy-hydrogen flame. This alkaline earth is so com- 
posed that when its temperature is raised by the com- 
bustion of the gases, it rapidly seizes the vapour formed, 
and both are dissipated with great developement of 
heat and electricity. But how can either impondera- 
ble pass off through such a bad conductor as lime ? 
The only resource is radiation. Vast mineral for- 
ests of fuel lie buried in the bowels of the Earth ; these 
are treasures of Electricitv as well as Caloric. We 



24 

do not usually receive more than half its worth by the 
use of coal in stoves: even the rays of light which reach 
us from open fires are by no means to be considered 
as representing the extent to which Electricity is availa- 
ble. As might be expected, the combination of gases 
does not produce so much Light as when solids and 
gases are employed. 

Magnetism might be appropriately introduced here 
as a branch of the subject, and a difficulty which must 
be met. I shall dismiss it summarily. Let us suppose 
a force such as that of Solar Electricity to be con- 
stantly operating on the Earth a revolving mass, and 
we will add disadvantageous^ operating if not coun- 
teracted at all points. Let us further suppose that this 
extraneous force comes in conflict with the permanent 
Electricity of the Earth, and that as a general law one 
current always sets another in motion at right angles : 
that this second current manifests itself either by the 
gyratory movement of the imponderable fluid itself, or 
by that of ponderable matter, and we have but to assume 
that certain materials possess a dynamic constitution 
which renders them particularly sensitive to electrical 
impressions, and Magnetism stands out in bold relief 
another expedient in the Economy of the Universe. 
It is a collateral force dependent and consequent upon 
a prior force in action, and by its rotatory movement 
tends or proposes to neutralize a direct and positive 
interference whether from abroad or at home. It 
silently but efficiently equalizes the derangement of equi- 
librium in a manner inconsistent with the defined duties 
of Caloric, and as far as the Earth en masse is con- 
cerned, from quarters (North and South) beyond the 



25 

province of Caloric as an efficient Antagonist in the 
balance of power. If artificial currents of Electricity 
generate counter-currents of a magnetic character, 
so it may be presumed that artificial or natural cur- 
rents of ponderable matter will do the same, whether 
it be to remedy a thermal or electrical deficiency or 
derangement. According to theory we ought to find 
some phenomena of magnetism in the human body, 
and we hear of experiments by which needles are ren- 
dered magnetic by their insertion near the course of 
the motor nerves. It may appear frivolous to notice 
the method which is occasionally adopted in the 
West, when the object is to discover a subterranean 
spring or running water at no great depth. The pro- 
cess is extended to the pursuit of metallic veins, and 
I need scarcely mention that it is extremely simple; 
viz, to balance a switch in a certain manner until it 
makes a revolution apparently accidental. A priori 
we might suppose that motion of any kind would im- 
press its condition upon any sensitive or good-con- 
ducting matter in its vicinity, and more especially 
upon matter which is equipoised and liable to be 
swayed by the slightest influence of a dynamic kind. 
It remains to be proved whether more careful experi- 
ments will substantiate the claim of these results to 
philosophical truths. 

The laws then which govern the imponderables are 
few and simple. We may speculate upon individual 
phenomena and be foiled in our explanation, but we 
may rest assured that the object which Nature strives 
to attain, is Order. 



26 



PART SECOND. 

I have stated that the essential requisite for de- 
composition and recomposition is a want of harmony 
between the imponderables present in contiguous par- 
ticles of matter, whereby mutual concessions are 
made, just as the phenomena of gravitation depend 
upon a disturbed equilibrium between those Agents in 
particles or masses, when a mere change of position 
will answer the purpose of an equilibrium. An ag- 
gregation of identical or nearlv similarly constituted 
molecules will occur, as of isomorphous salts, by a 
natural adaptation and affinity without what may be 
styled chemical reaction; that is. there is no need of 
much if any compromise of Electricity on the part of 
one. or of Caloric on the part of the other: but a me- 
chanical adhesion takes place corresponding with 
their own inherent capacities for the imponderables. 
In chemical reactions a third party assists materially 
the process, and water is a very common medium in 
which such opposite substances as gases and solids 
are enabled to act and react on each other with great 
rapidity and success. An acid will perhaps not com- 
bine with a base for which it is thought to have a 
strong affinity — Why ? Because there is so wide a 
difference between their imponderable conditions as 
to preclude a union. Let water be now added which 
will allow the acid or base to form a solution more in 
accordance with the nature of the base or acid, and a 



27 

salt is formed. Oil will not combine with litharge 
until water is added because the quasi-salts oleate and 
margarate of the oxide of glyceryl composing the oil 
possess too much latent Caloric to admit any recipro- 
cal action of a chemical nature in favour of a base so 
much at variance as the oxide of lead : but let this dif- 
ference be somewhat reconciled by the presence of 
water which by uniting with the oxide of glyceryl ena- 
bles the fatty acids to take the metallic base. So the sol- 
uble chlorides before they are dissolved first assume 
the middle state of chloro-hydrates, which condition 
is known to exist in such compounds as the chloro- 
hydrates of quinia, morphia, &c. The oxide of ethyl 
or even the hydrate of the oxide may fail to dissolve 
an organic substance, but an aqueous solution of the 
hydrate may be adequate for the purpose. The oxide 
of an alkaline metal is not so effectual a solvent as 
the hydrate of the same, much less than an aqueous 
solution of the hydrate. In fact water or any liquid 
which admits miscibility to an apparently indefinite 
extent is in the same category with what is usually 
called free caloric : but, strictly speaking, there is a 
minor degree of chemical union between such sub- 
stances, one more easily deranged and less obvious 
and defined as the combining qualities require a wider 
range of time and space for their settlement. To 
make these calculations we necessarily recur to the 
relation between the constitutional nature of the ma- 
terials in question and the free imponderables in 
which they are immersed without reference to any 
immediate connection between the materials them- 
selves. By these means I am enabled to dispose of 



28 

Dalton's hypothesis with respect to aeriform fluids, 
they may appear to act as vacua to each other, but a 
more extended view of the subject might suggest an 
ultimate arrangement between their particles strictly 
coinciding with the laws of definite proportions. 
Chlorine will not leave its connection with hydrogen 
in chlorohydric acid to combine with a metal such as 
zinc, but will readily embrace ammonium in a state of 
vapour ; nor will it unite rapidly with iron unless mi- 
nutely pulverized. If a stick of phosphorus and the 
flowers of sulphur be placed in contact under a bell- 
glass, on removing the air vapours of the negative 
sulphur will combine with the phosphorus which 
offers less resistance for reasons assigned. Half a 
volume of oxygen will not unite with a whole volume 
of hydrogen under all circumstances : it depends upon 
the state of the barometer and thermometer, in other 
words, on the relative condensation or expansion of 
the gases; as when an electric spark is passed through 
the mixture; or a hot iron, whereby the expansion of 
some particles condenses others ; or when the hydro- 
gen collects upon bright metallic surfaces as well as 
in the pores of certain bodies. Oxygen will refuse to 
combine w T ith zinc unless the metal be positively calo- 
rified or negatively electrified ; or unless the oxygen 
be compressed into the consistence of a liquid : their 
condition being now altered combination ensues. 
Nascent hydrogen is known to be peculiarly effica- 
cious in its reactions ; but is it not here a liquid or 
perhaps a solid ? Does it still retain its latent Elec- 
tricity which enables it to effect what it could not do 
after exchanging its electricity for Caloric ? The pro- 



29 

tosulphide of iron is formed whether the vapour of sul- 
phur be presented to cold solid iron in a finely divided 
state or whether the metal be white-hot at the weld- 
ing point and the sulphur concrete. 

The mechanical admixture of fluid substances is re- 
gulated by their dynamic qualifications, so that even 
gases are not exempt from the general rule. The 
presumed law of their equable expansion and contrac- 
tion by equal increments or decrements of heat is I 
admit in direct opposition to the doctrine which I have 
propounded relating to the variable amount of consti- 
tutional and acquired imponderables present in every 
species of atom. " If" says an accomplished Ameri- 
can chemist, " gases expand or contract 1 -480th of the 
volume they occupy at the freezing point for every 
alteration of temperature equal to one degree, it is 
obvious that a given volume of any gas at 32 deg. 
will be expanded by a volume equal to itself by hav- 
ing its temperature raised 480 deg. but at this rate a 
given volume of any gas at 32 deg. if cooled down to 
480 deg. would be contracted by a volume equal to 
itself, that is, reduced to nothing." Besides ; the vol- 
ume of certain gases does not decrease in the ratio 
of the increase of force used to compress them : which 
is an evidence in favour of their possessing a differ- 
ent capacity for Electricity, as the first objection sets 
the question at rest as far as Caloric is concerned. 

The idea of an equal ratio of force from equivalent 
proportions of combining elements is an error I con- 
ceive into which Liebig has fallen: for although the ne- 
gative of this proposition has not been proved on my 
part, neither has the affirmative on his — if my sugges- 



30 

tion as to the variable proportions of the imponderables 
be correct, neither Caloric nor Electricity will answer 
to the rule. Liebig states that 8 pounds of oxygen will 
produce the same effect as 35 \ pounds of chlorine — 
what effect ? 1 answer, the same amount of base will 
be neutralized. Liebig cannot affirm that the same 
amount of Caloric is supplied or Electricity put in mo- 
tion. This would argue an identity of dynamic con- 
stituents which is disproved by the unequal volume, 
and weight of the materials ; for if it be conceded that 
the free imponderables are equal, might not the com- 
bined or constitutional imponderables differ ? The 
most that can be averred is that the same amount of 
Electricity in motion invariably liberates identical 
amounts of substances which differ in volume and 
weight. " The numbers" says Liebig " representing 
chemical equivalents express very general ratios of 
effects corresponding for all bodies all the actions they 
are capable of producing. If we should assume that 
the quantity of force is unequal in the case of zinc 
with reference to its Caloric or Electricity evolv- 
ed by chemical action, that for instance we had 
obtained double or triple the amount in the gal- 
vanic pile, or that in this mode of generating 
force less loss is sustained, we must still recollect 
the equivalent of zinc as compared with coal in 
order to estimate their relative economy. By a 
certain measure of Electricity we produce a cor- 
responding proportion of heat or of magnetic power. 
A given amount of affinity produces an equivalent of 
Electricity in the same manner as on the other hand 
we decompose equivalents of chemical compounds by 



31 

a definite measure of Electricity." Again Liebig 
states that " in whatever way carbon may combine 
with oxygen the act of combination is accompanied 
by the disengagement of heat. It is indifferent 
whether this combination takes place rapidly or slowly, 
at a high or low temperature, the amount of heat 
liberated is a constant quantity." These conclusions 
are specious but not warranted by facts on which we 
can rely: their object is to place Caloric and Electri- 
city in the same category with ponderable matter. 
For my own part, I can discover no analogy between 
them, but am ready to admit that both imponderables 
are concerned, and am anxious to discover how far the 
especial province of each may extend. 

A mathematical illustration will perhaps render 
my views on the ultimate constitution of matter 
more intelligible. A radical atom A may con- 
tain one proportion of each imponderable: another 
and different radical atom B one proportion of each 
or two proportions of each: again another C three 
propottions of each, or three hundred, nay three thou- 
sand. But an atom of matter may possess one pro- 
portion of Caloric and two, three, or a thousand of 
Electricity; and we may vary the amount ad infinitum 
to represent its constitutional nature. What still fur- 
ther burthens the calculation is the capacity of each 
for the free imponderables according to their dynamic 
constitution; so that an atom M containing fifty pro- 
portions of each imponderable necessary for its identi- 
fication, possesses a greater capacity for both in a free 
state than A which contains only one proportion of 
each. V containing one proportion of Caloric and fiv§ 



32 

of Electricity has a greater capacity for the latter than 
for the former, while X containing one proportion of 
Electricity and five of Caloric is the reverse of P. I 
need not extend the exposition of this hypothesis; it 
is almost self-evident, and will account for the diversity 
of chemical reagents. Two or more substances may 
contain the same elements in the same proportion and 
yet possess different physical properties such as densi- 
ty, odour, taste, colour, refraction and polarization of 
light; so that by the addition or subtraction of either im- 
ponderable what are termed isomeric bodies may pre- 
sent diametrically opposite qualities. But the term 
is obviously inappropriate, since iron with a certain 
proportion of the imponderables will act like platinum 
as the positive plate of a voltaic series, and with ano- 
ther proportion may be a substitute for the zinc. They 
are not therefore isomerically constituted as far as the 
imponderables are concerned. 

Great stress has been laid upon that remarkable 
property of acids by which they characterize under 
different circumstances of their own formation a 
monobasic a bibasic or a tribasic salt. Phospho- 
rus in union with five equivalents of oxygen will 
form very different salts according to the electrical 
and thermal state of the acid, as I am disposed to think; 
but this is not more remarkable than the fact that 
phosphorus itself will combine with various equiv- 
alents of oxygen under different dynamic conditions. 
It appears that a compound substance when once 
formed retains a character of its own, by which it 
regulates its conduct toward other bodies: that is to 
say, its equivalent number from that moment is com- 



33 

paratively constant and upon the proportion of its 
combined imponderables will depend its capacity for 
the same in a free state. Phosphorus under the joint 
influence of the imponderables in a certain amount will 
take one or two or five equivalents of oxygen — or per- 
haps it is the oxygen which in this case undergoes the 
dynamic variation alluded to. Are we sure that five 
atoms of oxygen combine with one of phosphorus to 
form phosphoric acid ? May not one atom of oxygen 
assume the volume and weight corresponding to the 
supposed equivalent number, so that in all chemical 
combinations no more than one atom combines with 
one atom, but that this atom may be modified by the 
imponderables in such a way as to vary in its physi- 
cal qualities according to the dose? Let oxygen for 
example represent an atom of matter united with a 
definite amount of the imponderables, by which it ac- 
quires a fixed weight and volume — the law may be, 
that such an atom can only combine chemically with 
doses of the imponderables equivalent to its constitu- 
tional or dynamic nature; it may consequently be 
doubled or tripled in volume and its weight likewise 
affected in the same ratio. But I merely throw out 
these suggestions en passant. 

Electricity is a positive Agent as is Caloric; the 
comparative absence of either merely gives the other 
a temporary predominance of function. Atoms may 
assume the solid condition by a reduction of tempera- 
ture, but although it may be the withdrawal of free 
Caloric which is the proximate cause of solidification, 
it is the presence of latent Electricity which is the pre- 
disposing cause. Although the absence of pressure 
4i 



34 

or subtraction of Electricity may cause solids to be- 
come fluids, yet it is the positive agency of Caloric 
which expands the particles. Any one of the im- 
ponderables may or may not displace its rival so that- 
Caloric may be evolved under the influence of an elec- 
trical excess, as may Electricity under the prcepotency 
of Caloric. Let us suppose however a case in which 
the one may be retained in spite of the other. A fulmi- 
nating powder is supposed to contain gaseous atoms 
highly condensed by means of Electricity ; when it is 
suddenly struck with a hammer, the electric fluid is 
conducted away, and the gases left to their own re- 
sources expand explosively. 

Pressure like movement is of two kinds, and ex- 
presses a force in operation, whereas inertia as I have 
before remarked expresses its quiescence. As a gene- 
ral rule the diverging rays of thermal force represent 
centrifugal pressure, the converging rays of electrical 
force represent centripetal pressure. Particles are 
affected laterally by the imponderables resident in con- 
tiguous matter. I contend that if I press with my 
hand forcibly upon a solid or a fluid, I am adding so 
much Electricity at the expense of the materials con- 
stituting my body, and am unconsciously perhaps 
changing the imponderable relation which subsists in 
the earth upon which I stand. A bent glass tube in 
which gases are reduced to fluids by their own expan- 
sive force or by reduction of temperature, as well as 
the powerfully compressing machines of the early ex- 
perimenters, illustrate the same influence but in differ- 
ent modes. Liebio; in his late letters on Chemistrv 
uses the following language. " Adhesion or hetero- 



35 

geneous attraction has lately acquired by the discov- 
ery of the solidification of carbonic acid gas a more 
extended meaning and will account for the absorption 
of gases by porous bodies and their condensation upon 
solid surfaces. It had never before been thought of, 
says he, that this heterogeneous attraction was the 
cause of change of state in matter, but it is now evi- 
dent that a gas adheres by the same force which con- 
denses it into a liquid/' He thus remains contented 
with mere words to explain isolated facts without hav- 
ing realized the existence of agents capable of origi- 
nating such phenomena. I have given my reasons 
for believing that matter may contain variable quanti- 
ties of the imponderables even under the same form* 
so that it is not astonishing that metals should exhibit 
different appearances and physical qualities when sol- 
idified under different circumstances, they may form 
crystals or amorphous masses or a dark powder. 
Their surfaces when polished reflect light and are in- 
different conductors of Caloric and Electricity, whereas 
striated or uneven surfaces absorb the same with 
avidity. It has been considered strange that no arti- 
ficial pressure can give platinum sponge the same 
specific gravity as that which results from fusion. 
The canse appears to me to be the obstinacy with 
which the confined air adheres to the metal, and the 
difficulty which it finds in making its escape; or, the 
oxygen may partially combine with it. This I suspect 
is the case during the congelation of ice by reduction 
of temperature in the open air. Could pure water be 
artificially solidified by compression I have very little 
doubt but that its specific gravity would be material- 



36 

ly altered. As far as single crystals are concerned 
there can be no question about their combining every 
qualification of extreme solidity and specific gravity : 
it is only when the crystals are confused and interstices 
left which contain a partial vacuum or vapour, that 
we can explain the anomaly of bodies being lighter 
when solid than fluid, and floating on the same. Pure 
alumina is no longer thought to be condensable by 
heat. 

It is so apparently simple a mode of explanation to 
attribute a host of phenomena to the pressure of the 
atmosphere that I almost hesitate to question so cher- 
ished a principle of physics. When a bullet of lead 
has been cut into halves which are afterwards made to 
cohere by a slight manoeuvre, there are apparently 
three distinct causes of this result. First, there is an at- 
traction between particles of an identical nature, and 
this in proportion to their solidity: secondly, the sur- 
faces are rendered uneven by the twist given them 
in the hand, but become fitted to each other by an 
adaptation of the inequalities produced : and, thirdly, 
the air is said to press upon both pieces. To me it 
appears that the constitutional electricity of the atoms 
operate in the first and second instances to keep the 
particles and masses together, and that their free elec- 
tricity, which likewise comes into play, depends for 
its amount upon the free electricity of the circumam- 
bient air ; so that to whatever extent the latter be con- 
densed or rarefied, to that extent will free electricity 
or a compressing power be added or diminished in the 
particles or congeries of particles experimented upon. 
Besides, in proportion as free electricity is removed 



37 

artificially from the sphere of action will free caloric 
be enabled to exert its authority; so that for a time 
the atoms composing the masses will measurably be 
separated by it from each other, and the two pieces 
themselves be less disposed to adhere. When however 
the attenuated air has conducted away the excess of 
free caloric in the bullet, its atoms begin to contract 
again within their former limits. It is obvious that 
this experiment may be viewed in two aspects, and 
suit two explanations of which but one can be rigidly 
exact. Most persons will insist upon the material 
particles themselves as a cause of the phenomena, 
others will incline with me to regard the particles inac- 
tive, but the imponderables associated with them as 
the agents. 

A solid body suspended from a height and permit- 
ted to drop possesses not merely its own inherent 
share of latent and free electricity, but so much addi- 
tional free electricity as the strata of air through which 
it falls will surrender by conduction, and its own ca- 
pacity will allow it to accept on its passage. This 
may reconcile the problem of terresterial attraction 
with atmospheric pressure, if my premises be correct ; 
for it matters not in what direction electrical or ther- 
mal deficiencies or excesses may offer ; whether up- 
wards or downwards, horizontally or diagonally, the 
imponderables operate, either by themselves or in 
connection with matter, in demanding a balance of 
power. Hence all matter under similar circumstan- 
ces of position will eventually obtain an equal temper- 
ament, i e, an adequate supply of electrical fluid ; but 
this consummation our senses do not realize any more 
than they appreciate a like temperature in bodies of 



38 

different capacity for Caloric, and conducting power. 
A fundamental axiom with me is the following — that 
change as we may the relation of the imponderables 
to matter within areas of a certain extent, the princi- 
ple of compensation holds good, and the sum total of 
those agents in the said areas will always be the same, 
however misplaced naturally or artificially. The com- 
putation has reference to geographical as well as arith- 
metical ratios ; but due allowance must be made for 
the space considered, whether it be a theoretical ple- 
num abstracted from surrounding influences, or a part 
and parcel of the general mass as it exists in nature. 
If we take into consideration the amount of free cal- 
oric and electricity cotained in equal columns of mat- 
ter extending from the level of the ocean to the upper- 
most bounds of the atmosphere, we shall find that 
there is precisely the same amount, although the mat- 
ter constituting these columns may be very diversified. 
Thus, one column may be composed entirely of air, 
and will extend perhaps about fifty miles ; another 
may consist of a portion of solid matter as of a moun- 
tain, and the remainder of air ; a third will contain 
several feet of water and the residue of air ; a fourth, 
of thirty inches of mercury, a very rarefied mercurial 
atmosphere, and the top of the barometical tube, sur- 
mounted by common air. In each and all I contend 
there are equal amounts of the free imponderables, 
although very differently distributed ; and there seems 
to be a constant effort on the part of nature to restore 
to their pristine level and condition the materials 
which have assumed this uneven and heterogeneous 
character : but on the other hand, as if to thwart her 



39 

own apparent intention, the growth of vegetation, the 
ingenuity of man and other animals, the internal and 
external commotion kept up between contending ele- 
ments of matter as well as the continual shifting 
of the free imponderables or at least their influence 
from one side of the globe to the other causing its 
diurnal and annual revolutions, all redound to beauty, 
variety and a wholesome change on the face of the earth. 
— Moreover it may be a question, whether or not the 
actual presence of solids and liquids in the lower at- 
mosphere as well as the condensation of liquids and 
gases in the upper crust of the earth, do not realize 
the gradual blending of one department into the other 
and the establishment of a general rule. We find the 
resistance of the air less than that of water or iron 
because under the circumstances it more readily gives 
up its Electricity than they do; the latter having a 
greater capacity for the free fluid and far more of it 
combined with them. I will venture further and sug- 
gest, that possibly as much solid matter is either evap- 
orated suspended or dissolved as gaseous matter is 
absorbed condensed or combined; and that as much 
positive weight is added thereby to the atmosphere 
as there is a loss of specific weight sustained in the 
crust by the addition of gases, the balance being held 
by the ocean which keeps up a communion between 
both parties. It is difficult I confess to convey as 
distinct an impression on the mind in favour of an 
equal distribution of Electricity as of Caloric in a hor- 
izontal direction. The thermometer indicates to us 
the same temperature; but will the barometer inform 
us of the equable temperament in solids, liquids and 



40 

gases under similar circumstances ? Not so ; because 
it cannot be so favourably applied. Let us draw an 
imaginary zone of three feet thickness and three feet 
width extending around the earth in any parallel of the 
equator; and let this zone be supposed to be fifty feet 
below the level of the ocean. Now it may be, that 
this zone would include water, a portion of the Earth's 
crust, and atmospheric air in some inland valley 
or artificial excavation. I argue, that the amount 
of pressure in this zone taken collectively would 
precisely answer to the quantity of a similar zone 
in the same parallel of latitude on the other side of 
the equator, whether it consisted of water or earth 
singly or combined. Like the supposed columns before 
considered the electrical fluid and matter would be dif- 
ferently distributed, and consequently the barometer 
if applicable, might be expected to indicate difference 
of pressure ; but in fact, though the barometer ad- 
vises us when electric changes are in progress, what 
those changes are deponent sayeth not, being itself 
subject to their influence. If we rise high in air, the 
barometer will exhibit a loss in Caloric and the ab- 
sorption of free Electricity which the air is very wil- 
ling to give up : if we descend low in the earth, the 
thermometer will also exhibit a similar phenomenon, 
viz, a loss of Electricity and the absorption of Caloric 
which the solid crust is very ready to yield. So that 
no definite knowledge is attained further than the mere 
fact. In the case of the supposed zone, if in any por- 
tion of it a plus condition exists, a minus might be 
confidently assumed in another quarter to preserve 
the balance ; and in localities where surfaces are more 



41 

particularly exposed to these opposite influences, de- 
composition and recomposition would be likely to oc- 
cur as well as other phenomena of an electrical cha- 
racter. We must suppose that either valleys exist on 
the surface of the crust sufficiently extensive to coun- 
terpoise, if I may be excused the paradox, the eleva- 
tions above the level of the ocean, or that the diffe- 
rence must be made up by a temporary provision of 
the free imponderables of which the barometer is un- 
able to give us satisfactory intelligence; but the proof 
of such a gradual return to a general equilibrium is 
afforded by the abrasion and disappearance of conti- 
nents, although land may reappear above water in 
other regions by artificial means or volcanic action. 
Some might add the subsidence of the ocean in the 
polar latitudes, and the rise of the same under and 
near the equator. In the process of time a greater 
proportion of water may be dissolved in air as the 
crust increases in depth and the atmosphere extends 
its limits, in order to keep pace with the march of 
events below. Not that the atmosphere will be denser, 
but as more space will be allotted with constant addi- 
tions of Caloric, more matter will be dissolved or held 
in suspension. It is not the amount of matter but the 
relative quantity of Electricity and Caloric which de- 
termines the specific gravity and specific heat of the 
atmosphere, which at remote periods of time may have 
been rather vaporous than aeriform, so that much of 
the iron found massive or stratified on the Earth's sur- 
face may have been held up in it as well as the Ocean, 
and gradually or suddenly deposited by electrical and 
thermal changes. I may be asked why such metals 



42 

as iron nickel cobalt manganese &c. are found dis- 
solved or suspended in air while the lighter metals are 
not discovered. I am disposed to think that the latter 
do also there exist in minute quantities; but it strikes 
me that the peculiar nature of the alkalies and alka- 
line earths in which Caloric predominates, and that of 
the heavier metals in which Electricity is in the 
ascendant, would alike render the presence of both 
classes questionable. Iron nickel &c. are nearly equi- 
poised in dynamic constitution as is water, but more 
highly charged than water with both the impondera- 
bles, hence it happens that great license of time and 
place is allowed them. I would be understood to mean 
that during the formation of metallic concretions, the 
alkaline metals would be more likely consumed and 
re-dissolved, so as not to form a part or parcel of fall- 
ing meteors, whereas the magnetic metals mentioned, 
although their more difficult solubility requires a wider 
separation of their atoms, are enabled suddenly to 
converge towards the point in which there is a partial 
electrical vacuum with greater chance of avoiding the 
fate of their comrades the alkalies. It has often sur- 
prised me that any Chemist has ventured to assert 
positively what is the actual constitution of the atmos- 
phere: he may fearlessly aver what he has found, but 
what he has not found may exist there notwithstand- 
ing his skill in analvsis. I would rather believe the 
fact from seeing aerolites fall, and explain the presence 
of solid matter in minute quantities by reason of the 
vast amount of gases in which they are mixed or dis- 
solved, than rely upon the puny efforts of experimen- 
talists. A square mile of hydrogen or at least that 



43 

space in air might dissolve or contain an atom or 
atoms of copper which might defy our optic nerves 
however armed with microscopic appliances, or our 
hands furnished with the most delicate tests. At this 
period of advanced Science we are not so easily 
startled or confounded by the minuteness of Nature's 
operations: the day has passed when the grand and 
the imposing claimed almost universal homage. Nor 
are we confined in our explanations of phenomena to 
single modes of action — because the pulverisation of 
the subsoil or rock is the most obvious mode of ac- 
counting for the regeneration of the alkalies in land 
which has been exhausted, it is no reason why in simi- 
lar lands allowed to remain fallow and exposed to the 
vicissitudes of the atmosphere the soil may not gra- 
dually receive additions of the fixed as well as vola- 
tile alkalies from the regions above as from the regions 
below — why if saline incrustations are found in va- 
rious parts of the Earth to coat the surface and im- 
pregnate its layers an occasional precipitation of said 
matters may not co-operate with more frequent sub- 
limations or evaporations and consequent efflores- 
cence. 

By hydrometers or gravimeters we may estimate 
the comparative not the actual density of liquids and 
solids; so it is with the thermometer and barometer 
in reference to their functions. The air for instance 
may be plus Caloric and minus Electricity; the ther- 
mometer will rise and the barometer fall. Again it 
may be plus Electricity and minus Caloric, and the 
reverse takes place. Let there be minus Caloric and 
minus Electricity, the thermometer now falls and the 



44 

barometer likewise: or plus Caloric and plus Electri- 
city, the thermometer rises as well as the barometer. 
Such irregularities and sudden changes may produce 
certain forms of disease by the shock which they must 
make on the nervous system, independently of other 
causes which no doubt at such times would exist, as 
organic and inorganic effluvia. For this reason if the 
atmosphere be minus Electricity with reference to our 
bodies, there is a loss of Electricity on our part by 
conduction convection &c. which is manifested by low 
spirits and debility usually attributed to other causes 
which no doubt co-operate. When however the air 
seems tense clear and comparatively dry as is gene- 
rally the case in some parts of Italy, where distant 
objects are distinctly reflected and the vibrations of 
air rapidly reach the ear, the skin becomes easily elec- 
trified, and the fluid accumulates on its surface, so that 
the friction of flannel or silk will elicit sparks of light. 
It is not however solely the electrical tone of the at- 
mosphere but its material condition which regu- 
lates the retention or loss of the fluid generated within 
us : for it must constantly be borne in mind that any 
portion of matter whether gaseous or solid is negative 
when it has less Electricity than its share as compared 
with similar portions of matter, other things being 
equal. If it be admitted that during storms and tor- 
nadoes there is, according to Mr. Espy, a simultaneous 
movement of aerial currents towards a central point 
in which a partial vacuum exists, and that in such 
situations the air has become rarefied and conse- 
quently rises in vertical columns, the theory may re- 
ceive additional support by supposing not only posi- 



45 

tive Caloric a cause but more frequently a negative 
condition of Electricity. 

It is difficult perhaps to conceive how a particle or 
mass of matter can contain opposite qualities such as 
an inherent tendency to approach and fly from other 
particles and masses: — but sueh forces can be rigor- 
ously calculated, and by the admission of a new agent 
in physics, or rather an agent with new qualifications, 
satisfactorily accounted for. Heat and cold are cor- 
relative terms denoting simply the presence or absence 
of a required amount of free Caloric: resistance or 
non-resistance of bodies are so likewise, and designate 
the presence or absence of a certain amount of free 
Electricity. Levity results from the relative propor- 
tion of those agents in a combined or free state: 
weight results from the same cause. I thus explain 
the weight of iridium or of hydrogen, and the pecu- 
liar character of iron nickel and cobalt which seem to 
contain a large and nearly equal proportion of each. 
Potassium sodium carbon silicon and others would 
evince a large proportion of Electricity, but a still 
larger of Caloric, giving them in certain contingencies 
hardness without corresponding weight. Gold or the 
other ductile and malleable metals may have much 
Caloric in their composition to which they are indebted 
for their properties and still more Electricity which 
gives them great weight. But it is needless to enter 
into details while engaged in the consideration of great 
principles. 

How then docs the philosophy of Mechanics stand 
affected? What becomes of the lever of the wedge 
of hydrostatic and hydraulic forces? The power in 



46 

all depends upon the modifications of electrical deter- 
mination and energy; upon the rapidity of conduction 
concentration and the alternate or mutual co-opera- 
tion of the imponderables. Indeed all movements 
whether animate or inanimate may be traced to these 
all pervading Spirits: and as a case in point I shall 
briefly refer to some experiments made to establish 
the close connection if not identity of the causes 
which contribute to the effect. A bean during the 
season of germination is known to be influenced in 
the direction of its roots by gravity; and in proof of 
what this force is, or rather in proof of the fact that 
the same cause, whatever it is, operates in mechanical 
and vital movements, let the bean be appended to a 
vertical wheel which is rotated rapidly and for a length 
of time. The radicle instead of tending towards the 
centre of the earth or the axis of the wheel, now seeks 
the peripheral portion while the plumula poiats towards 
the axis. The conjoined effects of gravity and the 
apparently centrifugal action of Electricity may be 
further demonstrated by a horizontal wheel in motion, 
when the radicle grows downwards and outwards. 
At different periods in the revolution there is a differ- 
ent disposal of the electrical fluid: it is not until the 
wheel has attained its greatest velocity that the maxi- 
mum of force is found to prevail. At this crisis, if 
the consistency of the peripheral portion be at all lia- 
ble to inequalities of action or electrical capacity, 
small sections may become detached with violence, and 
will aid materially in carrying off the superfluous fluid, 
or the whole may burst with like effect. The devia- 
tion thus given to the electrical fluid is a circuitous 



47 

and feasible route instead of a strait and impracticable 
course towards attaining an equilibrium or correcting 
a physical evil, if we may so regard it. It also proves 
that the sphere of electrical tension may be seemingly 
independent for the time of the grand centre of the 
Earth, or even of the still grander centre of the Sun: 
but at the same time while threatening to oppose Na- 
ture's laws, it really obeys them and keeps within le- 
gitimate bounds. The shifting of this imponderable 
is shown by any falling body. The whole weight may 
be concentrated on the proximal point which strikes 
the ground, a corresponding loss of weight being sus- 
tained by the distal extremity. I thus account for the 
facility with which direction is given to a body in mo- 
tion by a slight touch on either extremity which may 
contain the imponderables in excess or in defect: and 
I presume the tendency of many solid bodies to burn 
in atmospheric air would be much greater on the dis- 
tal than the proximal superficies in consequence of the 
greater resistance to the action of oxygen on one side 
than on the other: but as il to counteract this result 
a partial vacuum is formed on the rear, whilst the air 
in advance is condensed and proportionally energetic. 
There is an extraordinary property of liquids to feel 
impressions which are not perceptible in a like degree 
by solids and aeriform fluids. Liquids contain the 
imponderables more nearly balanced and in a compa- 
ratively greater amount than other forms of matter, 
save that of animal and vegetable textures, A force 
applied to them is not conducted through and lost in 
the Earth, as is the case with most solids by reason of 
their cohesive compactness, nor spent as it were in 



48 

vain, as through gases by reason of their elastic and 
yielding nature, but it is felt in every direction, and 
with a proportionate intensity. The increase and 
diminution of volume in liquids is inconsiderable, but 
this is amply compensated by an obstinacy of resist- 
ance and endurance of effect. The tides are a sub- 
lime exemplification of the power which water pos- 
sesses to accommodate itself to the imponderable re- 
lations between our Earth and the Sun or Moon; and 
the swollen waves of the Ocean speak a language 
which may be understood when clouds overshadow 
the great deep as with a pall. If pressure be made 
upon the open end of a vessel filled with water, the 
impression is transmitted through every drop — the 
distal layers become negative and expand the peri- 
phery as the proximal layers are condensed and be- 
come positive. 

Extremes are said to meet and to neutralize each 
other: it is a proverb equally applicable to every mo- 
dification of force in action; teaching us the policy of 
temperance in all things, and that excesses whether 
in the physical or moral world like violent diseases 
can only be reached by remedies as violent, and thus 
thwarted in their dangerous tendencies. 



49 



PART THIRD. 

The felicitous relation between solids liquids and 
gases on the crustaceous surface of our globe as well 
as the reactions between the free imponderables them- 
selves which there necessarily take place to a far 
greater extent than in any other portion, are calcula- 
ted for a more complex arrangement between particles 
of matter. Hence appeared the varieties of plants 
and animals, which are enabled to derive sustenance 
from both mineralized and non-mineralized substances, 
and combine within themselves the requisites for 
growth and reproduction. As in a block of marble 
just taken from the quarry the sculptured form of a 
future figure is not as lawyers might say in esse but 
in posse, so we may conceive the germ of animated 
beings to contain rudiments of what may under fa- 
vourable circumstances be developed in full perfection. 
The organs follow each other in succession as the im- 
ponderable influences are exerted upon matter pre- 
viously organized. The modern views on Phytogeny 
and Embrvogeny require no more than this, that all 
the epiphenomena are effects of antecedent causes; 
but they fail to point out how the forces operate or 
what those forces are, their direction and intention. 
The mystery of the vital force diminishes if rightly 
considered with reference to the general laws imposed 
upon matter by the Creator of the Universe. The 



50 

laws themselves evince infinite wisdom, but their ap- 
plication falls within our scope of observation and 
enquiry. The wonder is, not that things are as they 
are, but that they should happen otherwise under ex- 
isting circumstances. 

The ingenious reference of Man's existence on 
Earth his size and physical power to the relation which 
subsists between the weights of their respective masses 
has been lately advanced by Mathematicians and Phy- 
siologists, and confirms me in my peculiar views : it is 
another instance of what appears to me an approxi- 
mative truth, but not being the whole truth is deficient 
in the length and breadth of its import. I hazard no 
opinion as to what conjuncture of events or what con- 
currence of atoms first gave a start to this or that ve- 
getable or animal; it is sufficient to assume that such 
a phenomenon occurred. There is no necessity for 
appealing to a special interposition of the Deity. The 
germ whether considered the result of a cause no 
longer operating as a creative power, or the product 
of ordinary fructification, possesses that inherent com- 
plexity of ponderable and imponderable elements which 
entitles it not only to a separate entity but to the 
privilege of reproducing its kind. To borrow a che- 
mical phrase, the equivalent number or dynamic con- 
stitution of such a combination of atoms must be high, 
notwithstanding which, it obeys the simple law regu- 
lating all matter, that " like has an attraction for its 
like and," as regards some bodies, " begets its like." 

In studying this department of Xature we shall find 
that animate bodies comport with inanimate so far as 
they are intended to fill a place corresponding with 



51 

their imponderable composition, and that they supply 
along with liquids per se that space in creation which 
would otherwise present too sudden a departure from 
one extreme to another. This classification of objects 
so different may seem prima facie ridiculous, unless 
we compare the case with another w r hich is analogous. 
2 bears the same relation to 2 that 2 millions do to 2 
millions — they come w ithin the same category of iso- 
merism and isomorphism without partaking of those 
particulars which might render them identical. Thus 
I regard the existence of vegetables and animals as 
supplementary to the Ocean, and forming a part of 
that grand division of compound atoms which possess 
a middle capacity for the imponderables, and as ne- 
cessarily originating from an adaptation of means to 
a proposed end — universal harmony. The blood is 
not the life of animals, but, like the succus nutritivus 
of vegetables, contributes to their vitality. They have 
water for their basis or solvent, and contain in a com- 
plicated form representatives from the three natural 
divisions of atoms, solids liquids and gases. These 
here meet on neutral ground, their peculiar character- 
istics and wide differences being temporarily suspended 
for the purpose of building up new forms and struc- 
tures with sensibilities and faculties as varied. The 
most ready and regular channel for the introduction 
of oxygen into the blood is through the lungs, but this 
gas is also condensed upon and within the epidermis 
and thence absorbed by combining with the oxide of 
iron while carbonic acid is liberated; and thus new 
life is as it were imparted to the returning blood with 
demonstrations of greater venous activity. So like- 



52 

wise the oxygen of the air may fulfil to a certain ex- 
tent the same indication in the stomach, and wherever 
it finds access. In ruminating animals this is particu- 
larly necessary, for the paunch is frequently overloaded 
and fatigued w T ith carbonaceous matters which require 
time and labour for their preparation. I doubt how- 
ever whether nitrogen gains admittance in this way; 
the conservative or tonic energies of the organ, as 
w r ell as the dynamic qualifications of the gas itself 
would seem to prevent its combination with the con- 
stituents of the blood. Not even does hydrogen its 
most constant friend appear disposed to attract it; 
the formation of ammonia bein^ uncongenial with 
the progressive changes of nutrition in animals, but 
rather like carbonic acid a product of retrograde ac- 
tion. 

I am aware that when we find in the blood or sap 
certain compounds ready formed, we have but to as- 
sume that they are attracted by similar molecules 
already organized, and that they are then deposited 
in contact, or fill perhaps a void left by other mole- 
cules which have been removed. During the warmth 
of spring and summer there is, as far as Caloric is 
concerned, a quasi-positive state in the vessels of 
plants which enables the sap to descend and precipi- 
tate fresh matter within and about the relaxed parts. 
The same principle holds good in growing animals 
except that at all seasons more or less a proper exer- 
cise of the functions produces the state alluded to, by 
which their size is increased and consequent suscepti- 
bility of action. In fact, as I shall hereafter explain, 
there is a co-operation of causes diametrically oppo- 



53 

site, since both imponderables play their appropriate 
part in the vital drama. 

An animal tissue may absorb albumen whether of 
vegetable or animal origin, and by a process within 
the body this albumen may be converted into fibrin by 
a very simple change of atoms, or it may be precipi- 
tated as albumen and form an organized part of the 
animal frame. But how is brain formed, a substance 
so dissimilar from every thing absorbed per vias natu- 
rales? How is albumen formed originally in the ve- 
getable? It may be said that even this is but a trifling 
change from certain semi-organic compounds which 
the higher order of vegetables can appropriate : but it 
is definitely settled that they can create albumen from 
inorganic substances, and that this is generally the 
case. What other opinion can we draw, but that both 
the animal and vegetable possess a formative faculty 
in themselves, besides appropriating compounds which 
approximate them in constitution. It may be added 
that the energy of growth and perfection of structure 
may be enhanced by artificial supplies of congeneric 
materials, but there undoubtedly exists the vis creatrix 
as well, and it is this force which is peculiar to each 
tissue or combination of tissues and organs. It is 
well known that mould acts as nutriment to vegeta- 
bles, that they live upon themselves as do animals: 
that this humus, as it is sometimes called, hold a mid- 
dle rank like bile between organic and inorganic mat- 
ter — both substances being produced or modified by 
the presence of acids and alkalies which act as ve- 
hicles for their absorption when dissolved in water. 
Vegetative life does not entirely depend upon this re- 



54 

source, but is greatly aided thereby ; although en pas- 
sant I may remark that humic acid consists of decayed 
organic matter, as does choleic acid; that vegetable 
mould contains matters which have been rejected from 
the economy as noxious or in excess — the same may 
be said of the products of the liver. But while it is 
admitted to be a general rule that the semi-organic 
compost arises from the decomposition or eremacausis 
of organized tissues, it does not follow that none could 
under any other circumstances have been formed. The 
probability is, that until a considerable quantity had 
been produced by purely chemical means, no very 
marked progress had been made in the vegetable 
world. According to the disposition of the impon- 
derables upon the Earth's surface at different epochs 
has been the disposal of inorganic and organizable 
matter: the latter has increased with the lapse of ages, 
more especially by the munificent addition of impon- 
derable elements derived from the Sun, the promoter 
if not the giver of Life. This opinion of the Sun was 
entertained by the Ancients, who pretended that the 
vital spark had been stolen from Heaven by Prome- 
theus. We may conclude then that w T hile vegetables 
and animals augment in number, the materials for 
their sustenance and propagation keep pace with them. 
The natural tendency of a vital cell is to produce 
other cells by its own inherent power, and but for 
causes operating disadvantageous^ or distracting this 
power, the bulk of the living being would be constantly 
enlarging. If I am correct in attributing so much im- 
portance to Caloric and Electricity in modifying the 
character of organic and inorganic matter, it would 



55 

not be stretching the argument too far to consider that 
the organs of animals are strengthened by a proper 
exercise of their functions ; because the nervous fluid 
concentrated therein attracts fresh matter to be depo- 
sited: but that if unduly worked they necessarily lose 
their conservative energies and are either absorbed or 
consumed. It is when diminished resistance is offered 
by a cell or tissue to the chemical influence of decom- 
posing agents that carbonic acid and other effete mat- 
ters are evolved from this source. The decay of the 
aged tree, the ripening of its fruit, &c. are attended 
by the extrication of oxidized compounds, nitrogenized 
or not as the case may be. An abraded surface which 
absorbs the oxygen of the air speedily engenders a 
barrier to the further intrusion of the gas in excess by 
a partial removal of tissue which leaves the subjacent 
layers firmer, more annualized and more capable of 
appropriating fresh matter from the blood : but if there 
be an ulcer in a patient with a bad constitution, how- 
ever much the oxygen may wear away exposed parts, 
the Electricity locally developed is not sufficiently se- 
conded by the materials of the circulating fluid to 
counteract corrosion, and there are no limits to de- 
composition. 

The body of an adult supplied abundantly with food 
may neither increase nor diminish in weight during 
twenty-four hours, and moreover the quantity of oxy 
gen absorbed in that period must be very considerable. 
The explanation I would furnish is, that these new 
materials have been partly used lor the purpose of 
affording him nervous excitement; in other words, of 
eliminating free Electricity. Had however his physi- 



56 

cal exertions been out of proportion to the amount of 
the ingesta, the deficiency of Electricity required for 
corporeal movements would have been made up at the 
expense of some of his tissues, particularly his fat and 
cellular substance, and he would have lost weight. I 
cannot too strongly insist, that as it is the presence of 
latent Electricity or the tone of a part which offers 
resistance to the action of oxygen and of the absor- 
bents, and in conjunction with free Electricity attracts 
fresh matter, so it is the want of a normal condition 
or the absence of a proper share of free and latent 
Electricity which enables the oxygen to commit its 
ravages; the effect being analogous to the solution of 
the zinc plate in the voltaic trough while the copper is 
fortified by the transfer of free Electricity to it from 
the zinc. When an organ is paralysed or but little 
used, it diminishes in bulk and utility; the absorbents 
prey upon some portions, and chemical agents are en- 
gaged in decomposing others for the sustenance of the 
more efficient members. During sleep the voluntary 
organs are in repose and very gradually recover their 
size if diminished by exercise on the previous day; 
but the chief part of the blood returns directly from 
the capillary arteries into capillary veins which seem 
to inosculate for the express purpose of facilitating the 
current when not required for nutrition or function. 
It is at night that the involuntary offices are inces- 
santly and almost exclusively exerted with the effect 
of strenothenino- the organs concerned, notwithstand- 
ing diminished vigour in the circulation by an altered 
state of the atmosphere and the absence of Solar rays. 
Let my reader mark the difference w T hich a muscle 



57 

exhibits under different aspects. When living and in 
possession of its dynamic powers it is tough and un- 
yielding; when removed from the body after the ani- 
mal has been butchered, the organ still retains much 
of its original tenacity and irritability but has lost that 
which the motor ganglion of the spinal marrow and 
the general motor ganglion of the brain could alone 
impart by continuity of nervous filaments. As it is 
now unsupported by foreign aid, it gradually succumbs 
to dynamic influences which surround it and are intent 
upon its ruin. Whilst thus imperceptibly parting with 
its free Electricity and Caloric, it holds its share of 
the combined imponderables up to the moment when 
it is decomposed or at least metamorphosed in the 
direction of decay. As long as the muscular fibre re- 
tains its proteinized character, it is itself wholesome 
meat, could it be separated from foreign matter which 
sooner undergoes the process of disorganization and 
by its intimate connection with the fibres separates 
them and renders the flesh more acceptable to the 
epicure or dyspeptic. As a proof that it is a sub- 
sidiary force which renders the muscle tough or the 
blood firm and fibrinous, let us test the fluids and tis- 
sues generally of animals which have been long driven 
and at length fall dead from exhaustion. Their sub- 
stance is materially altered, the muscles are flabby and 
cannot be made to contract by irritation; the blood 
does not coagulate. The carcase rapidly putrefies as 
if it had been deprived of vitality by lightning which 
in its passage had left a wreck of matter behind, or 
as if a sedative poison had done its work. The Che- 
mistry of Life is entirely at fault; we almost cease to 

recognize its parting steps. 
7 



58 

A muscle may be excited by a local cause such as in- 
flammation or irritation in the part itself; it may be 
excited by a similar condition in the spinal ganglion 
supplying it with motor power; again, it may be ex- 
cited by a similar condition of that part of the brain 
which produces voluntary movement. In all and each 
the effect is attributable to chemical action whereby 
compound materials are resolved into simpler combi- 
nations either in the circulation or by transformation 
of tissues. The over-worked muscle or nervous gang- 
lion becomes weaker and weaker not only by a decrease 
of the circulating; materials calculated to evolve free 
electricity (particularly if food be not adequately pro- 
vided,) but also by a diminution of the organ itself 
which requires actual reparation of parts before it 
can regain its wonted strenth. Impressions are made 
on any of the sentient surfaces of the body; among 
these I include the nervous expansions of general sen- 
sation, of tact, of smell, of audition, of vision, of taste, 
and all those which form the periphery of the brain 
and represent by their exercise the will. They are all 
I repeat organs of special sensation, and are connec- 
ted with ganglia which produce motion, in other words 
generate electricity. For this purpose the gauglia 
abound in arterial vessels not merely for nutritiou but 
for an especial function. Those which respond to the 
ordinary nerves of sensation are found in the spinal 
column: those which correspond with the organs of 
mind and express volition are in the centre of the cere- 
bral mass, viz, the thalami nervorum opticorum and 
corpora striata, which are continuous with the ganglia 



59 

of motion in the chord. Liebig lays most stress on 
calorification, the summum bonum of some Medical 
Practitioners: I would uphold the claims of Electricity 
or electrification upon especial notice without dispar- 
agement to Caloric which is concerned in chemico-vital 
reactions and is indispensable for our comfort and pro- 
tection. His " elements of respiration" par excellence 
are my elements of innervation, although the supply of 
caloric during the conversion of albumen into fibrin 
and other obvious changes in the blood occasioned by 
the oxygen inhaled is conceded to be auxiliary with- 
out detriment to my main proposition. But I may be 
asked, do not animals run about in cold weather to 
keep themselves warm, and are not children predispo- 
sed to muscular exercise? I answer, yes — they thereby 
circulate more rapidly arterial blood through the ex- 
treme tissues; for by using the limbs more venous 
blood is propelled into the left auricle of the heart and 
lungs, which consequently are excited to increased 
action. But, do not children crave abundant and whole- 
some food, the appropriation of which enables them to 
run about and prompts them to exercise by adding to 
the substance of their muscles, and by stimulating the 
same to action? The stiffness of limbs and inaptitude 
for exertion which is sometimes exhibited during a very 
severe winter, I may also add the sleep of vegetables 
and the general torpor at that period, are due to the 
want of free Caloric and Electricity such as the Sun 
alone can impart in sufficient quantity. They are com- 
pelled to rely upon their own resources, and if the 
constitution of an animal be weak and his alimenta- 



60 

tion inadequate, his health sensibly declines for the 
same reason that deaths are more frequent during the 
night. "The abstraction of heat " says Liebig " must 
be viewed as quite equivalent to a diminution of the 
vital energy. " Why then, if it is the Sun's heat which 
is so potent in invigorating our frames, may not an 
artificial temperature produce the like effects during 
darkness? The pure cold of winter is not disadvanta- 
geous to health, provided the rays of the Sun, compara- 
tively few and feeble though they be, are beaming upon 
our countenances, and the system has been gradually 
prepared for the changes of season. There appear to be 
two sources of Electricity and Caloric in the body, inde- 
pendently of that which is common to all substances in 
the same circumstances of position on the surface of 
the Earth's crust. When matter is consolidated or 
rendered more consistent latent caloric is evolved and 
is taken up to an equal degree in the adult by matter 
which is dissolved or removed as effete: its disintegra- 
lion and solution liberates latent Electricity which is 
received by fresh matter precipitated or deposited in 
situ. In this way the tone and integrity of the tissues 
are preserved. The second source is the chemical ac- 
tion between the materials entering the system but 
not used directly for purposes of nutrition, and in this 
way the imponderables are rendered free and avail- 
able for the different functions. Adipose deposits in 
hybernating animals do not seem to fulfil the intention 
of keeping them warm during winter, except inasmuch 
as fat is a bad conductor of heat. The temperature 
which these animals do maintain above the surround- 



61 

ing medium may be attributed to the first effect of oxy- 
gen within the lungs or skin, and the gradual deposition 
of matter within the most important working organs; 
which matter is transfered to them from others less 
active in function and daily diminishing in size. Elec- 
tricity is wanted for the contractile movements of the 
heart and arteries, and for reinforcing the functions of 
the nervous centres of involuntary motion. Fat pro- 
vides this supply; some might jocosely add, that it 
oils the machinery. Analogy would readily lead us to 
infer that like the lard of our candles it is eminently 
fitted for combustion in the strict sense of the term; 
but several questions may be raised on this every-day 
process. Nothing can be more easily proved or un- 
derstood than the fact that heat is directly produced 
by the solidification or condensation of particles, but 
it is not quite so evident that the oxidizement of all 
bodies is attended with the evolution of caloric as a 
primary or direct result. A burning candle or coal 
causes light to appear, and this light is a compound 
of calorific and electrical rays: but let us suppose that 
the immediate product of chemical combination in 
some cases is electricity, and that its diverging rays 
condense the medium of its passage with the evolution 
of caloric; or let us suppose that other cases result in 
a compound of greater or of less capacity for calo- 
ric; or that it is the rapidity of combination and 
secondary reactions which complicate the phenomena; 
or lastly that both Imponderables may be liberated one 
from each of the combining elements. If analogy is 
dangerous in comparing the properties and functions 



62 

of animals and vegetables, it is more so I suspect in 
comparing the chemico- vital reactions of life with 
those of the inorganic kingdom. The philosopher of 
Giessen strains every point to find materials for respi- 
ration as if the grand object were to support the 
function of the lungs instead of considering the func- 
tions of the lungs as only one of those which tends to 
support innervation or animal life. Without doubt dam- 
age would ensue to that delicate organ by the action 
of oxygen upon it, if not duly filled with its normal sup- 
ply of blood from the right ventricle: for this purpose 
a sensation of pain would be felt by the unresisting 
tissues which might be partially and temporarily relie- 
ved by a disintegration of the lining membrane, in other 
words, by a mucopurulent discharge. But the existence 
of a special sense for the necessity of aeration at once 
proves that a more important object than that of self- 
protection is subserved by the lungs. During uterine 
life the mother's blood already aerated and conveyed 
through the placenta suffices for the warmth and the 
nervous excitation of the foetus, but the first organic 
movement in the germ is produced by the semen mas- 
culinum which imparts to it a nervous character, be- 
sides a general power of attracting its pabulum 
from the surrounding tissues; so that the incipient 
stage is not due to Caloric but to Electricity which is 
first alike in date and in importance. When once 
the vital machinery is put in motion the two forces 
operate alternately and are developed by composition 
and decomposition of organic matter. So wedded is 
Liebig to the assumed origin of animal heat and to 



63 

the independent existence of a vital force analogous 
to other forces with which matter is endowed, that 
while he distinctly enunciates the cause of nervous 
force and its strict relation with change of muscular 
tissue, neither he nor his commentators unequivocal- 
ly admit the identity of the nervous and vital force. 
He appears to me to have had a glimpse of what I 
consider the domain of Truth but was denied the 
satisfaction of entering therein. Some critics wished to 
impute to him the charge of confounding the two 
forces, but he disclaims the paternity of such a sen- 
timent. 



64 



PART FOURTH. 

The gluten and albumen of seeds are analogous to 
the pepsin which is formed in the stomach; they are 
not intended for the nutrition of the young shoots but 
for their stimulation. By their decomposition Elec- 
tricity is developed with the effect of enabling the new- 
born cells to attract metamorphose and fix the car- 
bonaceous matter present, which process necessarily 
engenders Caloric. Meanwhile the fecula is converted 
into sugar and other soluble substances, apparently by 
a loss of Electricity which it sustains during the com- 
motion. It is only during the season of efflorescence 
or fructification that azotized substances are available 
for purposes of nutrition : as soon as the young plant 
has acquired sufficient strength to put out leaves, the 
necessity no longer exists to the same extent for nitro- 
gen or its compounds; they are consequently expelled 
in the secretions and excretions. The oil and fecula 
which is stored in the interior of many trees, like the 
fat of animals, is destined by its absorption and ere- 
macausis, when the occasion calls for it, to develope 
free Electricity and thereby aid in keeping alive those 
functions of the plant which by their suspension would 
endanger its life: the same use is made of even the 
heart wood itself at later periods of its existence. 

It would be strange if such a disparity exists as 
alleged between the aliment of vegetables and animals. 



65 

Some contend that all vegetables feed exclusively upon 
inorganic matter of the lowest description, viz, water 
carbonic acid ammonia and various mineral salts; 
whereas all animals are said to require the highest 
order of organized matter. My own observations 
lead me to believe that neither race subsists upon only 
one class of aliments. I cannot overlook the neces- 
sity which superior plants exhibit during their early 
growth for semi-organic compounds, such as the fe- 
cula o oil of seeds; or forget the facility with which 
animals of the lowest grade assimilate crude in- 
organic matter. Compost, whether an original pro- 
duct or the wreck of former growths, is as necessary 
for the active support of the higher specimens of vege- 
tables, as is animal fibrin and gelatin for animals of 
the most perfect kind. I am aware that fibrin is re- 
duced to the state of albumen before it is absorbed, 
and it may be argued with propriety that humus is 
reduced to the state of carbonic acid — but there is too 
great a resemblance between the humates and the 
choleates or albuminates of the fixed and volatile alka- 
lies and alkaline earths to reject upon speculative 
grounds their identity of action upon living cells. The 
more refined genera cannot afford to waste their ener- 
gies upon the assimilation of raw materials, but de- 
pend for an adequate supply upon others who are the 
operatives, and are far more numerous and indepen- 
dent. The noble forest oak could not maintain its 
dignity and distinctive character, did not its roots ab- 
sorb food already prepared for its wants. So is it 
with Man; he exacts from other animals the nutritive 
elements already disposed in a form calculated to en- 

8 



66 

rich and strengthen his body without the undue exer- 
cise of his digestive faculties. Cellular textures how- 
ever may be supposed not merely to extract from the 
blood the more serviceable plastic materials, but ac- 
tually to create compounds of proteine &c. which do 
not previously exist : herein acting the part originally 
assigned by Nature to the whole tribe of cells, that of 
generating new products or propagating their kind. 
As in structure so in function the two races of anima- 
ted beings approach each other. Are cells or fibrous 
tissues in one race capable of doing what is denied 
the other? The former may become distended and 
burst in the effort, but do not the phenomena of life 
justify us in believing the object one and the same? 
and where the nidus of an organ is laid in common 
cellular substance, the deposition of particles to en- 
large or repair that organ is still more intelligible. 
Aliment is taken into the system of the higher animals 
in two ways: the more consistent and nutritive por- 
tion by the lacteals, afterwards still further prepared 
by the mesenteric glands ; the more foreign and liquid 
by the veins, afterwards subjected to the action of the 
liver. This latter viscus among its other functions 
seems to act as an outlet for an excess of venous cir- 
culation or congestions of the more important viscera, 
and also as a sentinel for resisting or questioning 
liquid contributions from the alimentary canal. The 
contents of the lacteals correspond with the contents 
of the lymphatics ; they are metamorphosed tissues in 
a state of solution: moreover the mesenteric glands 
correspond with the lymphatic glands. But as the 
venous blood of the body requires to be altered in its 



67 

composition before it can again be of essential service 
to the organs, so the venous blood which forms the 
portal circle requires a similar ordeal. The lungs and 
liver are indispensably necessary for this purpose. 
The nutrition of the small intestines is identical with 
that of the rest of the body except that in addition to 
the iron which acts as a vehicle to the carbonic acid 
of the disintegrated tissues there is a large surplus of 
soda which takes the choleic acid there formed and 
conveys it to the liver. The same thing occurs in the 
stomach; the chlorohydric acid of the hydrated chlo- 
ride of sodium is there given up, and the soda helps 
the oxide of iron in carrying away the decomposed 
tissues. Again ; while the chlorine is engaged in its 
duty of dissolving inorganic matter in the stomach, 
the atmospheric oxygen by uniting with the pepsin 
pancreatic and salivary ingredients undertakes to sup- 
ply Electricity, at the same time that it robs any 
foreign animal or vegetable matter present of its nor- 
mal share of the electric fluid, with the effect of alter- 
ing its composition and partially dissolving it. So 
that even in the stomach we find traces of what is 
more apparent in the small intestines, viz: a double 
mode of alimentation: liquids more especially of an 
inorganic kind being taken up by the veins and carried 
to the liver, semi-organic fluids being also taken up 
by the membrane of the stomach and fixed by the 
Electricity evolved in that viscus during the reactions 
before alluded to. The probability however is that 
the chyme is not sufficiently reduced for assimilation 
to any extent, when we consider that the vermicular 
motion is constantly tending to disturb the process 



68 

and to urge the contents through the pylorus into the 
bowels. 

The succus nutritivus reaches as far as practicable 
all portions of the living mass whether animal or ve- 
getable by a common force which consists in an alter- 
nate contraction and relaxation of the ultimate vessels 
and cells. This elasticity in some animals in syn- 
chronous with, and partly due to the action of the 
heart itself. When for instance we pump up water 
from a well, it is not solely the atmosphere, nor the 
force applied, nor the partial vacuum, but the elas- 
ticity also in a very small degree of the water itself 
which aids in the process of elevation. Where there 
is a positive there is also a negative, for a redundancy 
here implies a deficiency there, in the equilibrium of 
matter. So when the heart contracts, there is pari 
passu a dilatation of all the capillaries and cells: this 
negative condition being caused by the exertion which 
the heart is called on to make in self-defence. But 
during its diastole, the electrical tension is instantly 
transferred to the extreme vessels, and in this way 
there is a constant centrifugal and centripetal deter- 
mination of Electricity ; the contractility of the vessels 
being partly due to nerves, that of cellular matter 
solely to the irritability of organic cells. The passage 
of matter out from the system leaves an abundance of 
free Electricity available for the more firm and healthy 
contraction of the tissues: the fixation of solids and 
evolution of Caloric expands the tissues for the recep- 
tion of the vitalizing current w r hich is thus invited on- 
wards. The doctrine of endosmose and exosmose 
rests on the fact that gases and liquids are condensa- 



69 

ble in solid porous substances so that slight causes 
will dislodge them with facility. Thus when the 
spongeoles of roots are saturated with moisture which 
they have absorbed within their meshes, the escape of 
gaseous excretions from the leaves produces a vacuum 
which the semi-elastic fluids in the spongeoles are 
ready to fill. In animals the initiatory act of absorp- 
tion is strictly analogous, the condensation alluded to 
being one of the methods devised by Nature to remedy 
slight deviations from dynamic equilibria. The cir- 
culation and organic metamorphoses vary in vegeta- 
bles and cold-blooded animals at different seasons; in 
the hot-blooded to a less extent; but there is no reason 
to believe that the separation of tissues even in these 
last is so universally extensive as supposed. It is 
enough for vegetative life that the solids and fluids be 
subjected to so much change as will impart free Calo- 
ric and Electricity to sustain the functions of the more 
important viscera. 

The sum then of my argument is that the final ob- 
ject in vegetables and animals is the same, that of 
building up their own frame or propagating offsets. 
The first movement depends upon a temporary redun- 
dancy of Electricity or Caloric in matter already or- 
ganized; after this arises the necessity of fresh mate- 
rials to sustain the dynamic movements, the introduc- 
tion of which occurs in two ways. I have claimed 
an analogy between the leaves or green epidermis of 
plants and the lungs or skin of animals: also between 
their roots and the alimentary canal, the soil being 
their stomach and intestinal tube. Through the former 
route gases and substances in the state of vapour find 



70 

an entrance, by the latter channel liquids and semi- 
fluid solids are welcomed. This process, wonderful 
as it appears when considered a vital mystery, is really 
a more enlarged exhibition of ordinary phenomena. 
The animal cell will not in general appropriate the 
same matter as the vegetable cell because their impon- 
derable nature does not correspond — the relation of 
parts is not identical in the two races, and conse- 
quently many of the vegetable products or excretions 
do not resemble those of animals. I have insisted 
upon the power of matter to attract matter of the 
same nature, and to alter or assimilate matters which 
admit of such change by a metamorphosis of atoms 
or a commutation of the imponderables. I might add 
that although products somewhat differing from the 
parent cell or texture are also formed locally in this 
way, that other processes of a more general nature 
may give rise to a variety of compounds which are 
essential to the welfare of the two races. Indeed the 
latter is the most probable method of accounting for 
the nervine of animals, whereas the former perhaps 
might answer best for fibrin. The nervous filaments 
merely regarded as conductors of the imponderables 
may give animals a superiority in this respect; but it 
is evident from the formation of vegetable organs con- 
generic with those of animals, that this system cannot 
be the chief cause of peculiar deposits or molecular ar- 
rangements, but a principle common to both kingdoms. 
Besides, the functions of animal life being more inces- 
sant and urgent, a greater loss of materials is expe- 
rienced by animals than vegetables. In proportion to 
the change of form will be the available Electricity 



71 

and power of attracting and assimilating their aliment, 
as well as the amount of Caloric liberated, both of 
which are greatly in favour of animals. I do not deny 
that carbonic acid is a part of the natural food of ve- 
getables, or choleic acid of animals, but I contend that 
the substances most conducive to the welfare and per- 
fection of the highest orders in both kingdoms are 
humus and proteinized matter ; that the carbonic acid 
which is condensed in the soil and dissolved in water 
is the most abundant and necessary supply of that 
material. During the day attraction of matter is pa- 
ramount in plants, and consequently organic transfor- 
mations are principally in one direction: new sub- 
stances are deposited with the immediate extrication 
of oxygen from the superficial layers, but during the 
absence of the Sun any excess of carbonic acid in the 
system more than can be used profitably, is restored 
to the atmosphere together with other effete effluvia. 
The leaves epidermis and spongeoles give exit to nox- 
ious evacuations and superfluous matter, as do the 
lungs skin large intestines and kidneys. 

Let us now examine the ultimate structure of ani- 
mals and vegetables. We find cells or compound 
particles of matter highly organized and from their 
constitutional nature more or less susceptible of trans- 
mitting impressions. There are no nerves in the cells 
of either race, but as nervous filaments of sensation 
are conveniently disposed in animal textures so as to 
connect them with central ganglia of motion, there is 
an additional safeguard in the latter as well as more 
exalted sensibilities. The organic movements of ani- 
mals belong to vegetables likewise, but there is a ner- 



72 

vous element which distinguishes the hand or tongue 
from the leaf or flower. Even the fibre of muscles does 
not essentially differ from the vegetable fibre in organic 
movement; it is the nerve of motion which imparts to 
the former its peculiar activity and contractile power. 
The liver or pancreas independently of the nerves 
which supply their blood-vessels only represent a more 
highly organized mass of particles. The lowest class 
of animals are properly called zoophytes from their 
borderiug on the two races. Animals again are di- 
vided into those which possess solely a sympathetic 
system of nerves which produces involuntary motion, 
and those which possess a voluntary system of nerves 
superadded. This distinction perhaps is the broadest 
and most appropriate. 

Writers confess that they are at a loss to account 
for the descent of the sap — the fact is that the cellular 
tubes, like the vessels in some of the lower order of ani- 
mals, determine a centripetal movement, their elasticity 
producing a vacuum which demands a supply of mat- 
ter. I do not pretend to decide whether the movement 
be at long or short intervals ; whether it depends upon 
variations of the barometer and thermometer, or up- 
on a livelier sense inherent in vital tissues; but I ha- 
zard the conjecture that the mode of absorption is iden- 
tical in both race s. The cells composing the spon- 
geoles or the leaves of plants have the power of as- 
similating carbonic acid or analogous compounds, and 
these substances are deposited in situ as a part of the 
tissues themselves: from their new settlement they are 
gradually removed by a transformation of atoms, and 
received within the sap vessels. Other materials enter 



73 

by imbibition and are forwarded by the tubes without 
further preparation in a manner analogous to venous 
suction. I need not again refer to the intestinal fixa- 
tion of the chyme, at least its albuminous constituents; 
or to its subsequent change of character and passage 
through the chyliferous ducts, a change attributable 
to a loss of electricity which the newly-formed tissues 
sustain under varying circumstances. The soda derived 
from the bile and which originally aided in rendering 
the materials more soluble in the intestines, a ain 
returns by the route of the portal veins to the liver 
where it is always ready to officiate. So that the 
lacteals really afford regular entrance to organized 
matter alone, the veins of the stomach and bowels 
being the avenue for other materials. The spleen I 
regard as a place of deposit for any iron which may 
exceed the wants of the system: it is here precipitated 
as an oxide in combination with an electro-negative 
animal matter which I shall call splenin as it differs 
somewhat from hsematosine. When from any cause 
the heart's action is lessened, and the blood is thereby 
congested in the great venous trunks, the liver and 
spleen feel the effects. The indication is to give an 
impetus to the heart, or a general diffusion of the con- 
gested blood to the extreme capillaries by natural or 
artificial means. Now as soon as the venous trunks 
connecting with the stomach the liver spleen &c. are 
engorged to a certain extent, the oppression produced 
by the stagnating fluids not only provokes a sympa- 
thetic action of the heart and perhaps lights up a fever, 
but the absorbents are also urged to go to work, and 
take up the splenate of iron which being carried into the 



74 

general circulation is decomposed in the lungs and skin: 
it acts as a tonic, and the prostration is further relieved 
by the oxygen which enters into a preliminary com- 
bination with the iron. The same object may be at- 
tained in another way. By nauseating the stomach, 
the vessels and ultimate cells of the liver are relaxed 
and permitted to disgorge themselves, and any remains 
of inflammatory or irritative action is transferred by 
the bile to the whole tract of the alimentary canal. 
The bile is a natural purge, as splenin is a natural 
tonic, or nervous electricity a natural stimulant. Like 
the choleate of soda in the gall-bladder, the splenate of 
iron in the spleen or fat in the cellular substance are 
resources for supporting the functions of the body, not 
for its immediate nutrition or warmth. The alkalies 
are evidently useful as vehicles for the introduction 
and separation of disorganized matters: the alkaline 
earths are deposited with apparent design, but the 
metals proper can only contribute collaterally not di- 
rectly to the welfare of the body. It is probable that 
many azotized substances in fruits leaves and roots 
act the same part as splenic acid ; that by their means 
oxygen is absorbed by which organic movements and 
functional activity are promoted. I have designated 
the spleen as a reservoir for the blood when not active- 
ly engaged in nutrition or functional processes; I might 
point out other instances of a similar purpose. The 
thyroid and thymus glands in children seem placed in 
connection with the lungs and trachea in order to di- 
vert the current during uterine life, and also to supply 
the organs mentioned with additional blood when in- 
fantile wants are intimated by long and loud crying. 



75 

The same object is fulfilled, although sometimes termi- 
nating disastrously, in those who inhabit the gorges of 
highlands. Their dwellings are in very elevated val- 
leys, and their avocations call them to great eminences. 
Hence we see the necessity of a provision to enable them 
to raise their voices and use their lungs in rarefied air; 
goitres are the consequence, which are handed down as 
heirlooms to these families isolated as they are from the 
rest of the world and frequently intermarrying. Can 
we wonder that so great a tendency of blood to such 
unnatural excrescences should divert a wholesome ac- 
tivity of function from the brain, and render the Cretan 
no better than a turkey or a rooster with their gobling 
and crowing propensities and with analogous append- 
ages in the neighbourhood of their larynx ? 

It would thus appear that the introduction of oxygen 
into our lungs is not for the purpose of burning us up 
piecemeal, as if it were rather a source of evil than of 
good ; for when in accordance with the wants of the 
economy it is the great agent in supporttng our 
strength. In hot climates the inhabitants are very wisely 
indisposed to much exertion, their diet is scanty and 
consists principally of fruits and rice ; whereas in cold 
regions the natives eat much animal food during their 
long-continued fishing and hunting excursions : those 
tribes however whose fare is limited to train oil and 
lichens in the extreme North are on a parallel with 
those who near the Equator indulge in the meats and 
luxuries of cooler latitudes; both are alike the victims 
of diseases which signalize inappropriate food. It is 
fortunate that the juicy fruits of intertropical repat 
in comparison with equal weights of the tallow and 



76 

blubber of Arctic and Antarctic feasts, contain only 12 
per cent of carbon as contrasted with 80 per cent of 
the same element. But after making allowance for 
aqueous evaporation, of what use is the combustion of 
carbonaceous fuel, however little, in a climate the tem- 
perature of which is above the normal heat of healthy 
blood. It surely should not be considered a disad- 
vantage to breathe an atmosphere constituted of even 
less oxygen in a square foot than is found in the East 
or West Indies. In fact, the non-azotized food there 
devoured and decomposed by the oxygen inhaled be- 
comes a substitute for the elements of the body itself 
in producing the necessary vital contraction : a small 
proportion however of azotized principles is absolutely 
requisite to replenish the exhausted state of the mus- 
cular and nervous systems under the most favourable 
circumstances of temperance rest and comfort — in 
such a climate, where but little energy of body or 
mind is expected from the natives, vegetable food con- 
tributes a sufficiency. It is not a little remarkable 
that gluten the nutritive element of the Cerealia is 
most abundant in farina grown between 35 and 45 deg. 
North and South latitude, precisely in that district 
of country where the race of men is most perfect, and 
the equability and amount of the free imponderables 
most favourable. 

Birds of long flight respire freely; their tempera- 
ture and temperament are consequently above the 
usual standard of other animals: fishes on the other 
hand appear to require the oxygen absorbed by water 
not expressly for heating their bodies but for giving 
them agility ; the aliment which they obtain contribu- 



77 

ting but little to their bulk while it facilitates their 
voluntary movements. An expanded chest is the best 
point in a horse intended for hard labour. The lungs 
and liver of young animals are greater in proportion 
than those of adults: according to the extent of foliage 
on a tree will be the formation and deposition of 
woody fibre, and if proper food be supplied the roots, 
blossoms and fruit will correspond. Power resides 
in an organ in proportion to its size, its tone in pro- 
portion to the imponderables combined with it; the 
manifestation of this power depends upon the available 
electricity generated by chemical action in the brain 
or the organ's corresponding nervous centre. The 
ferruginous preparations are known to confer benefit 
not injury to debilitated patients by adding to their 
store of oxygen; they do not support fever heat but 
subdue it by imparting tone and vigour to the consti- 
tution, provided the alimentary canal still retains its 
digestive and assimilating faculties. Whether inter- 
mittents and other fevers of hot countries be of vege- 
table or animal origin, whether they arise from organic 
or inorganic miasmata, or are purely dynamic; whether 
cancers and certain affections of the lun^s stomach 
and bowels be traceable to animalcules or other 
malign cause generated within us or around us, it is 
to the tone of the solids and their power of resistance 
to which we must look for salvation. For this reason 
chlorine or iodine when absorbed or liberated from 
their combinations in the circulation are valuable con- 
diments and medicines for removing such noxious in- 
gredients as may not be amenable to the oxygen of 
the air, and so far they act as tonics and alteratives : 



78 

an excess of either or too rapid an evolution might 
prove as fatal to the tissues as an overdose of oxygen; 
but the abuse does not detract from their therapeutical 
or conservative virtues. This is the case when scurvy 
breaks out in a crew that has fed too long and too 
exclusively upon salted provisions; the solids are 
broken down, and fresh vegetables or acid fruits are 
reputed the best remedies. During hot weather the 
vegetable acids refresh us by becoming absorbed 
with the subsequent production of carbonic acid: elec- 
tricity thereby invigorates the languishing system not 
at the expense of the living structures. As they are 
easily taken up by the veins, particularly after due de- 
pletion, and as the living membrane of the small intes- 
tines is too weak to digest and assimilate ordinary 
food, the only alternative left is a recourse to artificial 
stimuli in order to save the solids and recruit the ner- 
vous system. But if these acids be used habitually in 
excess, the opposite effect is produced; the stomach 
and bowels become deranged, and free absorption of 
aliment prevented, at the same time that the vascular 
and nervous systems are over-excited without addition- 
al nutriment or the ability to sustain the action. The 
neutral mixture or effervescing draught is serviceable 
in miasmatic fever s; first, they relax the extreme ves- 
sels and tissues by a central determination to the 
stomach, and afterwards they diffuse a wholesome ex- 
citement equably throughout the body, so that the 
organs can execute their offices: this artificial stimu- 
lation reduces morbid irritations of particular organs 
and allays the concomitant distress. The extrication 
of carbonic acid is not attended with increase of heat 



79 

which would be aggravating the case, but is refrigerant 
and gives tone to the stomach and system generally. 
Sedatives or stimulants, refrigerants or sudorifics may 
operate by their own inherent capacities for the dyn- 
amic agents ; sothat in whatever other way the effects 
alluded to may be produced, the reduction of compound 
substances to their simpler or simplest elements can- 
not but affect us for weal or woe. If during the 
chemico- vital reactions nitrogren is set free within the 
capillaries and extreme textures, or if antimony or lead 
or mercury are reduced from their solutions, can we 
wonder that tremendous if not fatal effects some- 
times ensue from their abuse, while a judicious appli- 
cation of the same might prove beneficial. Like the 
materials composing meteors, they have been taken 
up under circumstances which perhaps no longer exist 
— they are e situ naturali, and by their precipitation 
engross much free electricity which becomes latent 
and withdrawn from active service. 

Non-nitrogenized food does not provide so much 
free Electricity as nitrogenized compounds in which 
carbon and hydrogen are condensed; and consequently 
the former is better adapted for certain states and 
stages of disease which could not tolerate much ex- 
citement of any function: but during convalescence 
nitrogenized food is especially indicated to give tone 
to the nervous system and to rebuild the dilapidated 
frame. Now both jellies and good wheotcn bread are 
recommended as precursors to meat in moderate quan- 
tity with decided advantage. Those aliments in which 
sulphur phosphorus and lime exist offer the readiest 
means of reparation for certain tissues of the body 



80 

most essential to health. It is on account of the ni- 
trogen present in many medicines that they are so 
eminently useful in aiding the natural efforts, for by 
their eremacausis (or perhaps metamorphosis) a genial 
flow of Electricity is every where diffused, and a tonic 
effect is very obvious. Alcohol is serviceable in par- 
ticular exigencies as a stimulant, when no fixed orga- 
nic lesion, as of the brain, would be likely to attract 
its especial influence. The man who is addicted to 
the use of ardent spirits craves the indulgence of his 
appetite not for the warmth which the alcohol affords, 
this he can supply by clothing and artificial heat, but 
for the Electricity which is liberated first in his sto- 
mach to a small extent, and afterwards in the circula- 
tion. If alcoholic beverages be taken by a healthy 
person moderately and at proper seasons, during its 
decomposition in the blood nervous excitement results, 
and carbonic acid or some carbonaceous products are 
eliminated from the lungs &c. in a quantity corres- 
ponding with the draught and the elevation of spirits : 
but if the same amount be taken upon an empty sto- 
mach so as to operate locally and prejudicially upon 
that viscus, particularly if the subject be very irritable 
or in bad health, the local action prevails over a gene- 
ral tendency to excitement, and the spirits are de- 
pressed with corresponding diminution of carbon in 
the secretions or excretions. There is a point beyond 
which the introduction of stimulants or tonics is pre- 
judicial. As soon as the brain loses its control over 
the voluntary functions, so that the Electricity deve- 
loped by the constituents of the blood instead of being 
available for special purposes of the will is engaged 



81 

in fomenting local irritation upon the lining membrane 
of the heart and arteries, there is necessarily a sense 
of prostration or inability to stand erect, notwith- 
standing a fullness and frequency of the pulse. A 
current of blood excited by ardent spirits rioting 
through the veins is no more manageable than a mill- 
stream which overflows its banks during a freshet — 
there is force, but it is not applicable to useful pur- 
poses. Besides, we must not forget that any form of 
matter in which carbon enters, if the oxygen intro- 
duced be insufficient to combine with it, depresses the 
system by its presence, as every thing that is not in 
harmony with the wants or the particular state of the 
system is against it. There can be no neutrality in 
such matters; Caloric and Electricity if they are not 
directly or indirectly useful are directly or indirectly 
injurious. Water and organic elements in which oxy- 
gen and hydrogen are in the proportion to form water 
are not remarkable for their electro-positive or nega- 
tive qualities, but they become indispensable for this 
very evenness of character which admits of such ex- 
tensive but gradual application. The primary pro- 
ducts however of all carbonaceous matters may pass 
away without being entirely converted into carbonic 
acid and water; for we find that, when oxygen is de- 
ficient, the breath betrays an indiscreet indulgence 
in either solid or liquid food which but for this outlet 
and others as the liver kidneys skin and large intes- 
tines would incommode rather than promote the due 
performance of the functions of life. 

I have often reflected on the virtues ascribed by the 

Russians and some Medical Practitioners in Germany 
10 



82 

and the United States to the vapour bath. That the 
effect produced in disease is momentous no one will 
deny; and it ought therefore, like many other reme- 
dies, to be cautiously administered, and with a full 
knowledge of its possible consequences. But one 
thing is certain, that during a comparative state of 
health, it tends to maintain the blood in its purity by 
a free and perhaps vicarious purgation of any noxious 
ingredients or an excess of materials in the circulation : 
it also equalizes the nervous fluid and consequently 
discusses any tendency to local determinations. This 
condition of bienetre is co-extensive with the sentient 
surfaces and textures of the body, and intoxicates as it 
were the brain with an indescribable satisfaction which 
terminates in as indescribable a relaxation of mind 
and body. It is an artificial mode of raising mode- 
rately the pulse and the functions. We must under 
the circumstances conclude that, setting aside any 
direct influence of the imponderables according to the 
temperature and temperament of baths in general, the 
chemico-vital actions which supervene are mainly at 
the expense of the materials composing the body, since 
it is evident that no additional amount of oxygen is 
introduced, or an increase of diet tolerated in most 
cases. There is rather a sortie of Disease than an 
entree of Health — a relief from oppression which 
tranquillizes the feelings rather than a gratuity of 
strength and vigour imparted. The exhilaration con- 
sequent upon the unnatural developement of Electricity 
in the system should not be continued so far as to ren- 
der the subsequent depression excessive, unless this 
effect is desired for particular purposes. It is only 



83 

when luxuriously or inordinately applied that even to- 
bacco or wine may be said to injure us, or any other 
moderate enjoyment whether nutritive or stimulant. 
A judicious use of the bath gives a greater security 
against colds or inflammations: but when the relaxa- 
tion is over-great there is of course less resistance 
offered to all depressing agencies. Of the two ex- 
tremes which one meets in Northern countries, an ex- 
cessive use of hot vapour baths or an excessive absti- 
nence from every thing calculated to open the pores 
of the skin, in other words, excessive uncleanness, who 
would hesitate to make the choice? If the former 
produces premature debility and nervous complaints, 
the latter produces typhus and a long list of putrid 
fevers to be traced to sanguine impurities. 

The free Caloric of health is due to the deposition 
of fresh solid materials in nutrition, or the greater 
consistency given to the blood by the formation of 
fibrin; whereas free Electricity results from an opposite 
state of things, viz, the disintegration of tissues or the 
return of blood from arterial to a venous condition. 
It is obvious that during childhood more matter is laid 
down than taken up; that the tissues are succulent, 
and animal heat exuberant — during; old age more mat- 
ter is taken up than laid down; the tissues become 
stiff and more solidified while animal heat is at the 
minimum. But during manhood both heat and physi- 
cal power is at the maximum. The exaggerated heat 
in disease is more apparent than real; the sensibilities 
of the nervous expansions and of their ganglia are 
temporarily augmented by venous congestion behind, 
and an arterial determination in front; the vital move- 



84 

ments may be quicker and in the earlier stage more 
laborious, but the general tone and nervous power 
diminishes as local draughts are made upon its stock, 
whether for functional purposes as by the heart in 
fevers, or for the reparation of organic lesions during 
the inflammatory process. The engorgement of the 
great venous trunks connected with the venae cavse, 
and a relaxation in the heart's accustomed energy ne- 
cessarily cause a regurgitation of the venous blood 
upon the nervous centres — they are thereby irritated 
and goaded, more particularly the cardiac plexus, to 
feverish action. Their functions are whipped up for 
the occasion, to sink with greater rapidity, if the ob- 
ject for which they were excited be not attained. 

" Ubi irritatio ibi fluxus" is an old saying deduced 
from observation and experience; but its strict appli- 
cation in Science must be modified in accordance with 
improved means of diagnosis. At the present day 
" ubi irritatio ibi congestio" perhaps might answer as 
well; but in fact the term irritatio admits of too great 
latitude. A vital cell, tissue, or vessel, whether raised 
or lowered beyond the normal extent of its dynamic 
habitudes, is the recipient of a larger amount of the 
circulating fluid: for instance, let the liver be posi- 
tively excited by Electricity either generated in the 
organ itself by matter absorbed from the alimentary 
canal, or concentrated upon it from sympathetic rela- 
tion with other organs or tissues, and there follows an 
increased action of the arterial capillaries with super- 
abundance of red blood. But let us suppose the liver 
to be negatively affected in some way, and there arises 
a venous turgescence or congestion a tergo which 



85 

would obstinately remain until the malaise occasioned 
by over-distension should at length awaken the dor- 
mant sensibility of the part and an electrical move- 
ment in the sympathetic ganglion connected with it. 
The synergies are now brought into requisition, and 
the heart at length responding to the call not only 
helps to unload the distressed viscus by pumping out 
the contents and creating a diversion in the dermoid 
and other textures, but sends arterialized blood to the 
rescue of the liver itself, so as to give new tone and 
vigour to the tissues and vessels engaged. Should 
however the effort fail, should the fluxus be incompe- 
tent to do good, it does harm by lighting up perhaps 
active inflammation with various sequelae in addition 
to the general fever. The object then of the physi- 
cian in his recourse to venesection is two-fold — while 
he recognizes the necessity of reaction both general 
and local, which is accomplished by the proper con- 
dition and amount of the blood, he cautiously reduces, 
either before or after the expected crisis, its absolute 
amount so far as it oppresses the heart and other vis- 
cera: also while the absorbents are introducing a fresh 
supply of watery serum, he dilutes and qualifies still 
further the current by cooling drinks to prevent its 
excessive action upon diseased or weakened tissues. 
By the abstraction of blood the red globules are not 
allowed to concentrate their force upon any one par- 
ticular part, but are diffused generally to the evident 
relief of any morbid portion which could ill resist the 
energy of its accustomed share of oxygen, much less 
a well-meant but unfortunate determination of the 
same upon it. A restricted diet of a mixed character 



86 

does not add much to the volume of the circulation, 
but offers sufficient pabulum for the oxygen inhaled 
and the gradual restoration of the wasted frame with- 
out detriment to the living tissues themselves. Puru- 
lent secretion I regard as the result of a provisionary 
vital movement in cellular membranes and tissues by 
which they are saved from further corrosion at the 
expense of materials which are drawn from other 
quarters, and concocted in a form suitable to protect 
the exposed parts from the external air; whilst its com- 
position is such as to divert and engross the super- 
abundant Caloric and Electricity there engendered. 
It may however be contemplated as a more rapid re- 
jection of abortive cells by serous and mucous mem- 
branes which are unable to assimilate the vast amount 
of albuminous matter brought to them by the excited 
capillaries, and which the absorbents are unwilling to 
take back by reason of vascular plethora. As respects 
internal abscesses the secretion continues while there 
is an intermission of tonic rigidity in the surrounding 
parts and system generally; so that as soon as reac- 
tion is restored, the matter deposited is compressed 
and in its turn presses upon the most yielding portion 
of the walls, where an external opening is effected for 
its escape. Inflammation like fever is a restorative 
process, at least this is its intention ; for the increased 
nervous action first set up is to "support if possible 
further engorgement. Local stimulants and bandages 
are applied for a similar purpose — these would be po- 
sitively deleterious during the height of the reaction, 
but at the incipient stage or at the decline artificial 
support is alike demanded. 



87 

The different organs of the brain increase in size and 
energy by proper exercise : they acquire constant addi- 
tions to their mass in accordance with the force and di- 
rection given to the arterial current; but when abused 
by voluntary or involuntary excess their vigour declines 
owing to a gradual absorption of substance and their 
incapacity to appropriate fresh materials. This is a 
chronic departure from health; in acute cases, either the 
chemico-vital reactions developed in the capillaries ex- 
cite the organ or organs to derangement of function, or 
the oxygen makes an attack upon the cerebral tissue it- 
self. Inflammation of the brain proper attended with 
maniacal symptoms would be an exaggeration or mor- 
bid manifestation of the process. I may here repeat that 
the term oxidizement is by no means synonymous with 
combustion, unless every chemico-vital movement of 
oxygen be so regarded. I can recognize nothing more 
familiar or more strictly chemical in the disposition of 
oxygen to destroy than to construct certain forms of 
matter. Oxygen is as often employed I presume in 
the one case as in the other, and both phenomena are 
determined by the accidental relation of the elements 
at particular conjunctures. We should remember that 
it is not gaseous oxygen which operates in the changes 
alluded to, but oxygen in an altered condition. After 
the combination of the atmospheric oxygen with the 
red corpuscles of the blood, it becomes liquid with the 
evolution perhaps of slight sensible heat; even here it is 
not the gas in its elastic state as just received through 
the bronchia] tubes to which I refer, but that which has 
already become condensed in the tissue of the air-cells. 
During the conversion of the quasi-solid carbon of the 



88 

tissues and blood into a solution of the protocarbo- 
nate of iron, the reverse of heat is more probable. 
The consolidation of living structures is the ne plus 
ultra of formative power, and a change of consistency 
in semi-organized matter may be distinctly traced both 
towards the goal of Life and in an opposite direction. 
In persons of a lymphatic constitution the transfor- 
mation of albumen into fibrin is but partially attained, 
and cellular substance in excess distinguishes them 
from others in whom the digestive and respiratory 
processes are more complete. Those who possess the 
nervous and sanguine systems large and well-balanced, 
in short the essential requisites of health, present the 
most perfect developement of form and functional ac- 
tivity. The tissues of the one are loose, those of the 
other firm and elastic; their diseases are also charac- 
teristic, as are those of the purely sanguine and purely 
nervous constitutions in which the blood vessels or 
the nerves predominate to an extent incompatible with 
each other's rights and duties. I have no where seen 
a clear discrimination made between the physiologi- 
cal traits of the herbivorous class of animals and the 
carnivorous. The latter unquestionably exhibit more 
of the nervous temperament, their sensations are more 
acute and their movements more rapid; but exhaus- 
tion soon overtakes them from the draughts made 
upon their own substance when adequate food is not 
within their reach. In herbivorous animals the sup- 
ply of free nervous force is principally derived from 
an abundant ingestion of non-azotized food and depo- 
sites of their own fat, which last longer and are more 
serviceable for continued labour and patient endu- 



89 

ranee. Those animals which consume a mixed diet 
present a mixed constitution and character. The 
same rough distinction may be drawn between diffe- 
rent classes of vegetables which, I have no doubt, 
owe their peculiar properties to peculiarities of diet, 
modified as in the case of animals by climate which 
prompts them to select their materia alimentaria. 
The delicate and sensitive flowering plants of inter- 
tropical latitudes as we find them in our gardens and 
hot-houses may be justly compared to the refined and 
high-toned specimens of mammalia which adorn the 
most civilized communities. 

The inference to be deduced from late experiments 
with the gaseous voltaic battery is this; that the oxi- 
dizement of a metallic series may increase but does 
not originate the current. It depends upon the elec- 
trical capacity of the newly-formed oxide, and its 
relation to other contiguous substances whether any 
electricity or how much is set free. If when oxygen 
combines with hydrogen to form water electricity is 
developed, that portion at least which is available for 
the inductive state may not be a direct result of the 
combustion but of the change of form: so respiration 
produces electricity when the carbonate of iron assumes 
the state of the hydrated peroxide. It is inconsistent 
with the laws of animal life that gases such as hydro- 
gen, the olefiant, carbonic oxide, or even carbonic acid, 
should become free and allowed to circulate within us. 
I regard Liebig's hypothesis of the absorption of nitro- 
gen from the stomach as one of the weakest points in 
his argument; likewise the supposed entrance of the 

sulphide of hydrogen from the lower bowels as totally 
11 



90 

unfounded in fact. Blood removed from the body and 
no longer under the vital influence may absorb free 
gases or eliminate them ready-formed, but this is not 
the question at issue. Liebig's treatise in the main 
demonstrates the probability of a radical difference 
between organic and inorganic metamorphoses and re- 
actions: the former being confined to changes of no 
violent character, but to the production of compounds 
which still retain a comparatively high equivalent 
number; whereas the latter are generally split up into 
more elementary and less complicated relations. 

Such is Life and such its manifestations — what is 
Death but a gradual decay of the organs and conse- 
quent debility of their function. In ordinary language 
the digestive organs become less succulent, and ab- 
sorption more difficult ; the waste and supply no longer 
correspond; a demand is made which cannot be 
answered : less free caloric and electricity are conse- 
quently developed by chemico-vital reactions — a flaw 
perhaps now appears in the machinery, and there is a 
sudden pause in its movements. — 

Whether the operations of the mind are to be con- 
sidered as functions of the brain analogous but supe- 
rior to those of other organs, and whether human 
actions should be regarded as results of physical 
organization, I leave my readers to judge for them- 
selves according to the evidence presented to their 
senses, and the light which reason affords. 



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